---
title: She was one of those people who think that, if you say the same thin… — The Happy Prince, and Other Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: She was one of those people who think that, if you say the same thing over and over a great many times, it becomes true in the end. Who acts: Wheel, people, you, thing. 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 7

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She was one of those people who think that, if you say the same thing over and over a great many times, it becomes true in the end.

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**Who acts:** Wheel, people, you, thing · **What happens:** be, think, say, become · **To what, where:** one, same thing · **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 (Wheel, people, you, thing), 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:pg902:6:7
# text = She was one of those people who think that, if you say the same thing over and over a great many times, it becomes true in the end.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|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	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	those	that	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	6	det	_	_
6	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
7	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
8	think	think	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	_
9	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
12	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	say	say	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
17	over	over	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
19	over	over	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
21	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
22	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	becomes	become	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
27	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	xcomp	_	_
28	in	in	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	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 | Wheel | one |  |  |  | of that people | tree rules |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | present | that people |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* *a condition, not said to happen* | present | you | the same thing |  |  |  | over *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent thing=Topic |
| 4 | **become** | present | thing |  |  |  | time | true *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |

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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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