---
title: One evening, when the Boy was going to bed, he couldn't find the chi… — The Velveteen Rabbit · tree and pragmatics
description: One evening, when the Boy was going to bed, he couldn't find the china dog that always slept with him. Who acts: Boy. A sentence of «The Velveteen Rabbit» by Margery Williams Bianco, Opening, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Velveteen Rabbit, Opening, sentence 58

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One evening, when the Boy was going to bed, he couldn't find the china dog that always slept with him.

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**Who acts:** Boy · **What happens:** go, not find, sleep · **To what, where:** bed, china dog

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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 (Boy), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg11757:1:58
# text = One evening, when the Boy was going to bed, he couldn't find the china dog that always slept with him.
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	evening	evening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
4	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	Boy	Boy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	acl	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	bed	bed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
13	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	15	advmod	_	_
15	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	china	china	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	compound	_	_
18	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
19	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	21	obj	_	_
20	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	21	advmod	_	_
21	slept	sleep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	acl:relcl	_	_
22	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past · progressive | the Boy |  |  | bed |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to bed=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **not** **find** | could | Boy | the china dog |  |  | evening |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dog=Topic |
| 3 | **sleep** | past |  | the china dog |  |  |  | with Boy; always *property* | vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Theme |

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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.

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**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.

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