--- title: And he might have sat there a long time, too shy to move, if just th… — The Velveteen Rabbit · tree and pragmatics description: And he might have sat there a long time, too shy to move, if just then something hadn't tickled his nose, and before he thought what he was doing he lifted his hind toe to scratch it. Who acts: Rabbit. A sentence of «The Velveteen Rabbit» by Margery Williams Bianco, Opening, with its dependency tree --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11757/1/221/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Velveteen Rabbit](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11757/) / [Opening](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11757/1/) / 221 # The Velveteen Rabbit, Opening, sentence 221 And he might have sat there a long time, too shy to move, if just then something hadn't tickled his nose, and before he thought what he was doing he lifted his hind toe to scratch it. **Who acts:** Rabbit · **What happens:** sit, move, not tickle, think, do, lift · **To what, where:** something, hind toe, toe · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Velveteen Rabbit» by Margery Williams Bianco, Opening. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Rabbit), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg11757:1:221 # text = And he might have sat there a long time, too shy to move, if just then something hadn't tickled his nose, and before he thought what he was doing he lifted his hind toe to scratch it. 1 And and CCONJ CC _ 5 cc _ _ 2 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ _ 3 might might AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 5 aux _ _ 4 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 5 aux _ _ 5 sat sit VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 6 there there ADV RB PronType=Dem 5 advmod _ _ 7 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 8 long long ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 9 amod _ _ 9 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obl:unmarked _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 11 too too ADV RB _ 12 advmod _ _ 12 shy shy ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 advcl _ _ 13 to to PART TO _ 14 mark _ _ 14 move move VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 12 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 16 if if SCONJ IN _ 22 mark _ _ 17 just just ADV RB _ 18 advmod _ _ 18 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 22 advmod _ _ 19 something something PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 22 nsubj:pass _ _ 20 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 21 n't not PART RB Polarity=Neg 22 advmod _ _ 22 tickled tickle VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 5 conj _ _ 23 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 24 nmod:poss _ _ 24 nose nose NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 26 and and CCONJ CC _ 29 cc _ _ 27 before before SCONJ IN _ 29 mark _ _ 28 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 nsubj _ _ 29 thought think VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 advcl _ _ 30 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 33 obj _ _ 31 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 33 nsubj _ _ 32 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 33 aux _ _ 33 doing do VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 29 ccomp _ _ 34 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 35 nsubj _ _ 35 lifted lift VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 29 ccomp _ _ 36 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 38 nmod:poss _ _ 37 hind hind ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 38 amod _ _ 38 toe toe NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obj _ _ 39 to to PART TO _ 40 mark _ _ 40 scratch scratch VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 35 advcl _ _ 41 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 42 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **sit** | might · perfect | Rabbit | | | there | time | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **move** | to-infinitive | Rabbit *not said here* | | | | | | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **not** **tickle** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect · passive | | something | | | then | | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Experiencer nose=Result | | 4 | **think** *speech: other* | past | Rabbit | | | | | | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 5 | **do** | past · progressive | Rabbit | | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality | | 6 | **lift** | past | Rabbit | Rabbit's hind toe | | | | | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent toe=Theme | | 7 | **scratch** | to-infinitive | Rabbit *not said here* | toe | | | | | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme | One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree. **Text:** «The Velveteen Rabbit» by Margery Williams Bianco, Project Gutenberg book 11757 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order. - ← previous: [sentence 220](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11757/1/220/) - next →: [sentence 222](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11757/1/222/) - ↑ back to [Opening](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11757/1/)