---
title: Why, the words are spelt differently, and mean quite different things. — The Happy Prince, and Other Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Why, the words are spelt differently, and mean quite different things. A sentence of «The Happy Prince, and Other Tales» by Oscar Wilde, Opening, part 4, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Happy Prince, and Other Tales, Opening, part 4, sentence 51

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Why, the words are spelt differently, and mean quite different things.

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**What happens:** spelt, mean · **To what, where:** words, different things

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This is a sentence of «The Happy Prince, and Other Tales» by Oscar Wilde, Opening, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: 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:pg902:4:51
# text = Why, the words are spelt differently, and mean quite different things.
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	spelt	spelt	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	advcl	_	_
7	differently	differently	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	mean	mean	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spelt** | present · passive |  | the words |  |  |  | differently *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **mean** | present |  | different things |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Topic |

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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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