--- title: It was really only a little linnet singing outside his window, but i… — The Happy Prince, and Other Tales · tree and pragmatics description: It was really only a little linnet singing outside his window, but it was so long since he had heard a bird sing in his garden that it seemed to him to be the most beautiful music in the world. Who acts: music, little linnet, tree, it. A sentence of «The Happy Prince, and Other Tales» by Oscar Wilde --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg902/3/85/) [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/) / 85 # The Happy Prince, and Other Tales, Opening, part 3, sentence 85 It was really only a little linnet singing outside his window, but it was so long since he had heard a bird sing in his garden that it seemed to him to be the most beautiful music in the world. **Who acts:** music, little linnet, tree, it · **What happens:** be, sing, hear, seem · **To what, where:** little linnet, window, bird sing, garden, tree, beautiful music · **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 (music, little linnet, tree, it), 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:pg902:3:85 # text = It was really only a little linnet singing outside his window, but it was so long since he had heard a bird sing in his garden that it seemed to him to be the most beautiful music in the world. 1 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 7 nsubj _ _ 2 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 cop _ _ 3 really really ADV RB _ 7 advmod _ _ 4 only only ADV RB _ 7 advmod _ _ 5 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 6 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 7 amod _ _ 7 linnet linnet NOUN NN Number=Sing 0 root _ _ 8 singing sing VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 7 acl _ _ 9 outside outside ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 10 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 11 nmod:poss _ _ 11 window window NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 12 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 13 but but CCONJ CC _ 17 cc _ _ 14 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 nsubj _ _ 15 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 cop _ _ 16 so so ADV RB _ 17 advmod _ _ 17 long long ADV RB Degree=Pos 7 advmod _ _ 18 since since SCONJ IN _ 21 mark _ _ 19 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 21 nsubj _ _ 20 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 aux _ _ 21 heard hear VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 17 advcl _ _ 22 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 23 bird bird NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 compound _ _ 24 sing sing NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 obj _ _ 25 in in ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 26 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 27 nmod:poss _ _ 27 garden garden NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 obl _ _ 28 that that SCONJ IN _ 30 mark _ _ 29 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 nsubj _ _ 30 seemed seem VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 ccomp _ _ 31 to to ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 32 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 obl _ _ 33 to to PART TO _ 38 mark _ _ 34 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 38 cop _ _ 35 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 36 most most ADV RBS Degree=Sup 37 advmod _ _ 37 beautiful beautiful ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 38 amod _ _ 38 music music NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 xcomp _ _ 39 in in ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 40 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 41 world world NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 42 . . PUNCT . _ 7 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** | past | music | a little linnet | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **sing** *speech: express* | gerund | a little linnet *not said here* | | | tree's window | | | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme outside window=Location | | 3 | **is** | past | music | | | | | long *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **hear** | past · perfect | tree | a bird sing | | tree's garden | | | tree rules | | 5 | **seem** | past | it | | tree | | | | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme | | 6 | **is a** | to-infinitive | | the beautiful music | | the world | | | tree rules | 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 84](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg902/3/84/) - next →: [sentence 86](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg902/3/86/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg902/3/)