---
title: He was something of a politician, and had always taken a prominent p… — The Happy Prince, and Other Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: He was something of a politician, and had always taken a prominent part in the local elections, so he knew the proper Parliamentary expressions to use. Who acts: order. A sentence of «The Happy Prince, and Other Tales» by Oscar Wilde, Opening, part 6, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of e
---

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# The Happy Prince, and Other Tales, Opening, part 6, sentence 13

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He was something of a politician, and had always taken a prominent part in the local elections, so he knew the proper Parliamentary expressions to use.

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**Who acts:** order · **What happens:** be, take, know, use · **To what, where:** something, prominent part, local elections, proper Parliamentary expressions

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This is a sentence of «The Happy Prince, and Other Tales» by Oscar Wilde, Opening, part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (order), 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:pg902:6:13
# text = He was something of a politician, and had always taken a prominent part in the local elections, so he knew the proper Parliamentary expressions to use.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	politician	politician	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	11	advmod	_	_
11	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	prominent	prominent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	local	local	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	elections	election	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	so	so	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
24	proper	proper	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
25	Parliamentary	parliamentary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	expressions	expression	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obj	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	use	use	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | order | something |  |  |  | of a politician | tree rules |
| 2 | **take** | past · perfect |  | a prominent part |  | the local elections |  | always *property* | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent part=Value in election=Location |
| 3 | **know** | past | order | the proper Parliamentary expressions |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer expression=Stimulus |
| 4 | **use** | to-infinitive | order *not said here* | the proper Parliamentary expressions *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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