---
title: Indeed, if he is a really true friend he prefers it, for he knows th… — The Happy Prince, and Other Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Indeed, if he is a really true friend he prefers it, for he knows that then he is doing good.’ Who acts: word. A sentence of «The Happy Prince, and Other Tales» by Oscar Wilde, Opening, part 5, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Happy Prince, and Other Tales, Opening, part 5, sentence 9

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Indeed, if he is a really true friend he prefers it, for he knows that then he is doing good.’

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**Who acts:** word · **What happens:** be, prefer, know, do · **To what, where:** true friend, pain, good

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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 (word), 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:pg902:5:9
# text = Indeed, if he is a really true friend he prefers it, for he knows that then he is doing good.’
1	Indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
7	really	really	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	advcl	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	prefers	prefer	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	knows	know	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
18	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	21	advmod	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	doing	do	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	advcl	_	_
22	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | word | a true friend |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **prefer** | present | word | pain |  |  |  | indeed *property* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |
| 3 | **know** | present | word |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **do** | present · progressive | word | good |  |  | then |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent good=Eventuality |

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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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