---
title: “But somehow he was never able to look after his flowers at all, for… — The Happy Prince, and Other Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: “But somehow he was never able to look after his flowers at all, for his friend the Miller was always coming round and sending him off on long errands, or getting him to help at the mill. Who acts: Miller, friend. A sentence of «The Happy Prince, and Other Tales» by Oscar Wilde, Opening, part 5, wit
---

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# The Happy Prince, and Other Tales, Opening, part 5, sentence 30

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“But somehow he was never able to look after his flowers at all, for his friend the Miller was always coming round and sending him off on long errands, or getting him to help at the mill.

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**Who acts:** Miller, friend · **What happens:** not be, look, come round, send off, get, help · **To what, where:** Miller, long errands, mill

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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 (Miller, friend), 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:pg902:5:30
# text = “But somehow he was never able to look after his flowers at all, for his friend the Miller was always coming round and sending him off on long errands, or getting him to help at the mill.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
3	somehow	somehow	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
10	after	after	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	flowers	flower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	_
13	at	at	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	for	for	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	Miller	Miller	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	appos	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	23	advmod	_	_
23	coming	come	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	parataxis	_	_
24	round	round	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	sending	send	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	23	conj	_	_
27	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	_
28	off	off	ADP	RP	_	26	compound:prt	_	_
29	on	on	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	errands	errand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	getting	get	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	23	conj	_	_
35	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	obj	_	_
36	to	to	PART	TO	_	37	mark	_	_
37	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	advcl	_	_
38	at	at	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	mill	mill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** *in a quote* | past | Miller |  |  |  |  | able, somehow *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **look** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | Miller *not said here* |  |  |  | after Miller's flowers | at all | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at all=Theme |
| 3 | **come round** *in a quote* | past · progressive | Miller's friend |  |  |  |  | always, round *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **send off** *in a quote* | gerund | Miller's friend *not said here* | Miller |  | long errands |  |  | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 5 | **get** *in a quote* | gerund | Miller's friend *not said here* | Miller |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus |
| 6 | **help** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | Miller's friend *not said here* |  |  | the mill |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: 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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