Each of the twelve lists of words consists of one word (in order) from each of the twelve chapters of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Millenium Fulcrum Edition 3.0) by Lewis Carroll. Each of the words in each list (except for the Nth word in the Nth list) share a certain attribute. These are:
List 1: The first seven-letter word in the chapter.
List 2: The forty-second word from the end of the chapter.
List 3: The sixth word in the chapter containing an f.
List 4: The first word in the chapter with m in its third position.
List 5: The first word in the chapter ending in s.
List 6: The fifth word in the chapter with a double o.
List 7: The first N-letter word in the Nth chapter.
List 8: The last word in the chapter containing an x.
List 9: The last nine-letter word in the chapter.
List 10: The first word in the chapter after the word ``herself''.
List 11: The first word in the chapter starting with j.
List 12: The forty-second word of the chapter.
Listing the words that should replace the incorrect words gives another such list:
sitting getting after something its footman sitting executioner something hastily justice upsetting
Each of these words (except executioner) has the attribute that it is the
first word in each chapter with an odd number of letters and a t in the
middle position. The word in Chapter 8 with this attribute (replacing
executioner) is WATCH.