--- title: “‘As I was his best friend,’ said the Miller, ‘it is only fair that… — The Happy Prince, and Other Tales · tree and pragmatics description: “‘As I was his best friend,’ said the Miller, ‘it is only fair that I should have the best place’; so he walked at the head of the procession in a long black cloak, and every now and then he wiped his eyes with a big pocket-handkerchief. Who acts: best friend, it, Miller. A sentence of «The Happy Pr --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg902/5/59/) [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 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg902/5/) / 59 # The Happy Prince, and Other Tales, Opening, part 5, sentence 59 “‘As I was his best friend,’ said the Miller, ‘it is only fair that I should have the best place’; so he walked at the head of the procession in a long black cloak, and every now and then he wiped his eyes with a big pocket-handkerchief. **Who acts:** best friend, it, Miller · **What happens:** be, say, have, walk, wipe · **To what, where:** best friend, best place, every, head, eyes · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (best friend, it, Miller), 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:pg902:5:59 # text = “‘As I was his best friend,’ said the Miller, ‘it is only fair that I should have the best place’; so he walked at the head of the procession in a long black cloak, and every now and then he wiped his eyes with a big pocket-handkerchief. 1 “ " PUNCT `` _ 11 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 8 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 3 As as SCONJ IN _ 8 mark _ _ 4 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 8 nsubj _ _ 5 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 cop _ _ 6 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 8 nmod:poss _ _ 7 best good ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 8 amod _ _ 8 friend friend NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 8 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 10 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 8 punct _ _ 11 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 Miller Miller PROPN NNP Number=Sing 11 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 15 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 19 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 16 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 nsubj _ _ 17 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 19 cop _ _ 18 only only ADV RB _ 19 advmod _ _ 19 fair fair ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 11 ccomp _ _ 20 that that SCONJ IN _ 23 mark _ _ 21 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 23 nsubj _ _ 22 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 23 aux _ _ 23 have have VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 19 csubj _ _ 24 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 25 best good ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 26 amod _ _ 26 place place NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 27 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 26 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 28 ; ; PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 29 so so ADV RB _ 31 advmod _ _ 30 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 31 nsubj _ _ 31 walked walk VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 conj _ _ 32 at at ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 33 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 34 head head NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 obl _ _ 35 of of ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 36 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 37 procession procession NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 nmod _ _ 38 in in ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 39 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 42 det _ _ 40 long long ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 42 amod _ _ 41 black black ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 42 amod _ _ 42 cloak cloak NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 43 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 44 and and CCONJ CC _ 45 cc _ _ 45 every every DET DT PronType=Tot 31 obl _ _ 46 now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 45 advmod _ _ 47 and and CCONJ CC _ 50 cc _ _ 48 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 50 advmod _ _ 49 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 50 nsubj _ _ 50 wiped wipe VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 46 conj _ _ 51 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 52 nmod:poss _ _ 52 eyes eye NOUN NNS Number=Plur 50 obj _ _ 53 with with ADP IN _ 58 case _ _ 54 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 58 det _ _ 55 big big ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 58 amod _ _ 56 pocket pocket NOUN NN Number=Sing 58 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 57 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 56 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 58 handkerchief handkerchief NOUN NN Number=Sing 50 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 59 . . PUNCT . _ 11 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | past | body's best friend *= friend* | body's best friend | | | | | tree rules | | 2 | **say** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | past | body's best friend | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **is** *in a quote* | present | it | | | | | fair *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **have** *in a quote* | should | body's best friend *= friend* | the best place | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent place=Patient | | 5 | **walk** *in a quote* | past | Miller | every | | the head of the procession | | in a long black cloak | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at head=Trajectory | | 6 | **wipe** *in a quote* | past | Miller | Miller's eyes | | | then | with a big pocket handkerchief | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent eye=Source | 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 58](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg902/5/58/) - next →: [sentence 60](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg902/5/60/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg902/5/)