--- title: One evening, while the Rabbit was lying there alone, watching the an… — The Velveteen Rabbit · tree and pragmatics description: One evening, while the Rabbit was lying there alone, watching the ants that ran to and fro between his velvet paws in the grass, he saw two strange beings creep out of the tall bracken near him. Who acts: Rabbit, ants, two strange beings. A sentence of «The Velveteen Rabbit» by Margery Williams Bian --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11757/1/91/) [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/) / 91 # The Velveteen Rabbit, Opening, sentence 91 One evening, while the Rabbit was lying there alone, watching the ants that ran to and fro between his velvet paws in the grass, he saw two strange beings creep out of the tall bracken near him. **Who acts:** Rabbit, ants, two strange beings · **What happens:** lie, watch, run, fro, see, creep out · **To what, where:** ants, tall bracken · **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, ants, two strange beings), 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:pg11757:1:91 # text = One evening, while the Rabbit was lying there alone, watching the ants that ran to and fro between his velvet paws in the grass, he saw two strange beings creep out of the tall bracken near him. 1 One one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 2 nummod _ _ 2 evening evening NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obl:unmarked _ SpaceAfter=No 3 , , PUNCT , _ 8 punct _ _ 4 while while SCONJ IN _ 8 mark _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 Rabbit rabbit NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 nsubj _ _ 7 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 aux _ _ 8 lying lie VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 9 there there ADV RB PronType=Dem 8 advmod _ _ 10 alone alone ADV RB _ 8 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 12 watching watch VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 8 conj _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 ants ant NOUN NNS Number=Plur 12 obj _ _ 15 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 16 nsubj _ _ 16 ran run VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 14 acl:relcl _ _ 17 to to ADP IN _ 16 obl _ _ 18 and and CCONJ CC _ 19 cc _ _ 19 fro fro VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 16 conj _ _ 20 between between ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 21 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 23 nmod:poss _ _ 22 velvet velvet NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 compound _ _ 23 paws paw NOUN NNS Number=Plur 19 obl _ _ 24 in in ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 grass grass NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 28 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 nsubj _ _ 29 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 conj _ _ 30 two two NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 32 nummod _ _ 31 strange strange ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 32 amod _ _ 32 beings being NOUN NNS Number=Plur 33 nsubj _ _ 33 creep creep VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 29 ccomp _ _ 34 out out ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 35 of of ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 36 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 37 tall tall ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 38 amod _ _ 38 bracken bracken NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 obl _ _ 39 near near ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 40 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 38 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 41 . . PUNCT . _ 8 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **lie** | past · progressive | the Rabbit | | | there | evening | alone *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **watch** | gerund | the Rabbit *not said here* | the ants | | | | | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ant=Theme | | 3 | **run** | past | the ants | | | | | | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **fro** | infinitive | the ants *not said here* | | | | | between Rabbit's velvet paws in the grass | tree rules | | 5 | **see** | past | Rabbit | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 6 | **creep out** | present | two strange beings | the tall bracken near Rabbit | | | | | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location bracken=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 90](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11757/1/90/) - next →: [sentence 92](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11757/1/92/) - ↑ back to [Opening](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg11757/1/)