---
title: I prefer them to stars myself, as you always know when they are goin… — The Happy Prince, and Other Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: I prefer them to stars myself, as you always know when they are going to appear, and they are as delightful as my own flute-playing. Who acts: I, you, fireworks. A sentence of «The Happy Prince, and Other Tales» by Oscar Wilde, Opening, part 5, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every cl
---

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# The Happy Prince, and Other Tales, Opening, part 5, sentence 115

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I prefer them to stars myself, as you always know when they are going to appear, and they are as delightful as my own flute-playing.

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**Who acts:** I, you, fireworks · **What happens:** prefer, know, go, appear, be, play · **To what, where:** fireworks · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Happy Prince, and Other Tales» by Oscar Wilde, Opening, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, you, fireworks), 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:pg902:5:115
# text = I prefer them to stars myself, as you always know when they are going to appear, and they are as delightful as my own flute-playing.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	prefer	prefer	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	stars	star	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
6	myself	myself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	2	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
9	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	11	advmod	_	_
11	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
12	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	15	advmod	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	ccomp	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	appear	appear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
21	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
22	as	as	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	delightful	delightful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	parataxis	_	_
24	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
25	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
26	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
27	flute	flute	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	playing	play	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	23	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **prefer** | present | I | fireworks *= firework* |  |  |  | to stars; myself *obl:unmarked* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer they=Stimulus |
| 2 | **know** | present | you |  |  |  |  | always *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **go** | present · progressive | fireworks *= firework* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **appear** | to-infinitive | fireworks *= firework* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **is** | present | fireworks *= firework* |  |  |  |  | delightful *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **play** | gerund | fireworks *= firework* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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