---
title: It is what I call selfishness, and selfishness is a most detestable… — The Happy Prince, and Other Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: It is what I call selfishness, and selfishness is a most detestable thing, especially to any one of my temperament, for I am well known for my sympathetic nature. Who acts: voice, I, selfishness. A sentence of «The Happy Prince, and Other Tales» by Oscar Wilde, Opening, part 6, with its dependency t
---

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# The Happy Prince, and Other Tales, Opening, part 6, sentence 156

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is what I call selfishness, and selfishness is a most detestable thing, especially to any one of my temperament, for I am well known for my sympathetic nature.

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**Who acts:** voice, I, selfishness · **What happens:** be, call, know · **To what, where:** selfishness, detestable thing, I · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (voice, I, selfishness), 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:pg902:6:156
# text = It is what I call selfishness, and selfishness is a most detestable thing, especially to any one of my temperament, for I am well known for my sympathetic nature.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	0	root	_	_
4	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	call	call	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
6	selfishness	selfishness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
9	selfishness	selfishness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
10	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
12	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	13	advmod	_	_
13	detestable	detestable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	especially	especially	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
17	to	to	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	19	det	_	_
19	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	appos	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	temperament	temperament	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
24	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
25	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
26	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux:pass	_	_
27	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	28	advmod	_	_
28	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	parataxis	_	_
29	for	for	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
31	sympathetic	sympathetic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	nature	nature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | voice |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **call** | present | I | selfishness |  |  |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent selfishness=Recipient |
| 3 | **is a** | present | selfishness | a detestable thing |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **know** | present · passive |  | I |  |  |  | for my sympathetic nature; well *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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