--- title: “I cannot understand why the Spring is so late in coming,” said the… — The Happy Prince, and Other Tales · tree and pragmatics description: “I cannot understand why the Spring is so late in coming,” said the Selfish Giant, as he sat at the window and looked out at his cold white garden; “I hope there will be a change in the weather.” Who acts: I, Spring, Selfish, Frost. A sentence of «The Happy Prince, and Other Tales» by Oscar Wilde, O --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg902/3/78/) [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 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg902/3/) / 78 # The Happy Prince, and Other Tales, Opening, part 3, sentence 78 “I cannot understand why the Spring is so late in coming,” said the Selfish Giant, as he sat at the window and looked out at his cold white garden; “I hope there will be a change in the weather.” **Who acts:** I, Spring, Selfish, Frost, change · **What happens:** not understand, be, come, say, sit, look out · **To what, where:** window, cold white garden · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Happy Prince, and Other Tales» by Oscar Wilde, Opening, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, Spring, Selfish, Frost), 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:pg902:3:78 # text = “I cannot understand why the Spring is so late in coming,” said the Selfish Giant, as he sat at the window and looked out at his cold white garden; “I hope there will be a change in the weather.” 1 “ " PUNCT `` _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ _ 3 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 5 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 4 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 5 advmod _ _ 5 understand understand VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 6 why why ADV WRB PronType=Int 11 advmod _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 Spring spring NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 nsubj _ _ 9 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 11 cop _ _ 10 so so ADV RB _ 11 advmod _ _ 11 late late ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 16 ccomp _ _ 12 in in SCONJ IN _ 13 mark _ _ 13 coming come VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 16 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 15 ” " PUNCT '' _ 13 punct _ _ 16 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 advcl _ _ 17 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 18 Selfish selfish NOUN NNS Number=Plur 19 nsubj _ _ 19 Giant giant ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 16 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 21 as as SCONJ IN _ 23 mark _ _ 22 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 23 nsubj _ _ 23 sat sit VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 16 conj _ _ 24 at at ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 window window NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 obl _ _ 27 and and CCONJ CC _ 28 cc _ _ 28 looked look VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 23 conj _ _ 29 out out ADP RP _ 28 compound:prt _ _ 30 at at ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 31 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 34 nmod:poss _ _ 32 cold cold ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 34 amod _ _ 33 white white ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 34 amod _ _ 34 garden garden NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 35 ; ; PUNCT : _ 38 punct _ _ 36 “ " PUNCT `` _ 38 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 37 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 38 nsubj _ _ 38 hope hope VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ _ 39 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 41 expl _ _ 40 will will AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 41 aux _ _ 41 be be VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 38 ccomp _ _ 42 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 43 change change NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 nsubj _ _ 44 in in ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 45 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 46 det _ _ 46 weather weather NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 48 ” " PUNCT '' _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **not** **understand** *in a quote* | can | I | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 2 | **is** *in a quote* | present | the Spring | | | | | late *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **come** *in a quote* | gerund | | | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | I *not said here* | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **sit** | past | Selfish | | | the window | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent at window=Location | | 6 | **look out** | past | Selfish *not said here* | | | Hail's cold white garden | | | vn caring-75.2-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **hope** *in a quote* | present | Frost | | | | | | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | | 8 | **be** *in a quote* | future | a change in the weather | | | there | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=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 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 77](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg902/3/77/) - next →: [sentence 79](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg902/3/79/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg902/3/)