---
title: So I first sold the silver buttons off my Sunday coat, and then I so… — The Happy Prince, and Other Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: So I first sold the silver buttons off my Sunday coat, and then I sold my silver chain, and then I sold my big pipe, and at last I sold my wheelbarrow. Who acts: I, silver. A sentence of «The Happy Prince, and Other Tales» by Oscar Wilde, Opening, part 4, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics 
---

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# The Happy Prince, and Other Tales, Opening, part 4, sentence 88

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So I first sold the silver buttons off my Sunday coat, and then I sold my silver chain, and then I sold my big pipe, and at last I sold my wheelbarrow.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, silver · **What happens:** sell, button off · **To what, where:** Sunday coat, silver chain, big pipe, wheelbarrow, last

<!-- .vabout -->
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: who acts (I, silver), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg902:4:88
# text = So I first sold the silver buttons off my Sunday coat, and then I sold my silver chain, and then I sold my big pipe, and at last I sold my wheelbarrow.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	4	advmod	_	_
4	sold	sell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	silver	silver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	buttons	button	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
8	off	off	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	_
9	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
10	Sunday	Sunday	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	coat	coat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	16	advmod	_	_
15	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	sold	sell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
17	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
18	silver	silver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	_
19	chain	chain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
22	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	24	advmod	_	_
23	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	sold	sell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
25	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
26	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	pipe	pipe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
30	at	at	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	obl	_	_
32	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	sold	sell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
34	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	wheelbarrow	wheelbarrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sell** | past | I |  |  |  |  | first *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **button off** | present | the silver | my Sunday coat |  |  |  |  | vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent coat=Patient |
| 3 | **sell** | past | I | my silver chain |  |  | then |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent chain=Theme |
| 4 | **sell** | past | I | my big pipe |  |  | then |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pipe=Theme |
| 5 | **sell** | past | I | my wheelbarrow |  | last |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent wheelbarrow=Theme at last=Asset |

<!-- .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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