---
title: But the Oak-tree understood, and felt sad, for he was very fond of t… — The Happy Prince, and Other Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But the Oak-tree understood, and felt sad, for he was very fond of the little Nightingale who had built her nest in his branches. Who acts: Oak tree, Student. A sentence of «The Happy Prince, and Other Tales» by Oscar Wilde, Opening, part 2, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every claus
---

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# The Happy Prince, and Other Tales, Opening, part 2, sentence 125

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But the Oak-tree understood, and felt sad, for he was very fond of the little Nightingale who had built her nest in his branches.

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**Who acts:** Oak tree, Student · **What happens:** understand, feel, be, build · **To what, where:** nest, branches

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This is a sentence of «The Happy Prince, and Other Tales» by Oscar Wilde, Opening, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Oak tree, Student), 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:pg902:2:125
# text = But the Oak-tree understood, and felt sad, for he was very fond of the little Nightingale who had built her nest in his branches.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
3	Oak	Oak	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	understood	understand	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	felt	feel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
10	sad	sad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
12	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
15	very	very	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	fond	fond	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	conj	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	Nightingale	Nightingale	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
21	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	23	nsubj	_	_
22	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	built	build	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	16	conj	_	_
24	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	nest	nest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
26	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	branches	branch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **understand** | participle | the Oak tree |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **feel** | past |  |  |  |  |  | sad *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
| 3 | **is** | past | Student |  |  |  |  | fond *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **build** | past · perfect |  | love's nest |  | Student's branches |  | of the little Nightingale | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nest=Product |

<!-- .note -->
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 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.

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