--- title: He had met her early in the spring as he was flying down the river a… — The Happy Prince, and Other Tales · tree and pragmatics description: He had met her early in the spring as he was flying down the river after a big yellow moth, and had been so attracted by her slender waist that he had stopped to talk to her. Who acts: Friend, slender waist. A sentence of «The Happy Prince, and Other Tales» by Oscar Wilde, Opening, part 1, with its --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg902/1/28/) [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 Happy Prince, and Other Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg902/) / [Opening, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg902/1/) / 28 # The Happy Prince, and Other Tales, Opening, part 1, sentence 28 He had met her early in the spring as he was flying down the river after a big yellow moth, and had been so attracted by her slender waist that he had stopped to talk to her. **Who acts:** Friend, slender waist · **What happens:** meet, fly, attract, stop, talk · **To what, where:** Egypt, river, slender waist This is a sentence of «The Happy Prince, and Other Tales» by Oscar Wilde, Opening, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Friend, slender waist), 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:pg902:1:28 # text = He had met her early in the spring as he was flying down the river after a big yellow moth, and had been so attracted by her slender waist that he had stopped to talk to her. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 2 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 aux _ _ 3 met meet VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 4 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 obj _ _ 5 early early ADV RB Degree=Pos 3 advmod _ _ 6 in in ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 spring spring NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obl _ _ 9 as as SCONJ IN _ 12 mark _ _ 10 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 12 nsubj _ _ 11 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 aux _ _ 12 flying fly VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 3 advcl _ _ 13 down down ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 14 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 river river NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obl _ _ 16 after after ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 17 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 18 big big ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 amod _ _ 19 yellow yellow ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 amod _ _ 20 moth moth NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 22 and and CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ _ 23 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 aux _ _ 24 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 26 aux:pass _ _ 25 so so ADV RB _ 26 advmod _ _ 26 attracted attract VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 3 advcl _ _ 27 by by ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 28 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 30 nmod:poss _ _ 29 slender slender ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 30 amod _ _ 30 waist waist NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obl _ _ 31 that that SCONJ IN _ 34 mark _ _ 32 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 33 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 34 aux _ _ 34 stopped stop VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 30 acl:relcl _ _ 35 to to PART TO _ 36 mark _ _ 36 talk talk VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 34 xcomp _ _ 37 to to ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 38 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 39 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **meet** | past · perfect | Friend | Egypt | | | spring | early *property* | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Co-Agent | | 2 | **fly** | past · progressive | Friend | | | the river | after a big yellow moth | | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme down river=Trajectory | | 3 | **attract** | past · perfect · passive | Egypt's slender waist | | | | | | vn lure-59.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **stop** | past · perfect | Friend | Egypt's slender waist *not said here* | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **talk** | to-infinitive | Friend *not said here* | | Egypt | | | | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to she=Co-Agent | 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 Happy Prince, and Other Tales» by Oscar Wilde, Project Gutenberg book 902 (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 27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg902/1/27/) - next →: [sentence 29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg902/1/29/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg902/1/)