---
title: The little party halted while she told the melancholy tale of the de… — Winning Buddha's smile · tree and pragmatics
description: The little party halted while she told the melancholy tale of the devotion of the old lady who had sacrificed herself without hope of recompense or reward. Who acts: Yeng, old lady, devotion, recompense. A sentence of «Winning Buddha's smile», Winning Buddha’s Smile, part 9, with its dependency tree
---

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# Winning Buddha's smile, Winning Buddha’s Smile, part 9, sentence 158

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The little party halted while she told the melancholy tale of the devotion of the old lady who had sacrificed herself without hope of recompense or reward.

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**Who acts:** Yeng, old lady, devotion, recompense · **What happens:** halt, tell, sacrifice, devote, hope · **To what, where:** little party, melancholy tale, Yeng, old lady · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Winning Buddha's smile», Winning Buddha’s Smile, part 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Yeng, old lady, devotion, recompense), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg78208:11:160
# text = The little party halted while she told the melancholy tale of the devotion of the old lady who had sacrificed herself without hope of recompense or reward.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	party	party	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	halted	halt	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
5	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
6	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	melancholy	melancholy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	tale	tale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	devotion	devotion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	lady	lady	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
18	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	20	nsubj	_	_
19	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	sacrificed	sacrifice	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	17	acl:relcl	_	_
21	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	20	obj	_	_
22	without	without	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	hope	hope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	recompense	recompense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	_
26	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	reward	reward	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **halt** | participle |  | the little party *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Yeng | the melancholy tale of the devotion of the old lady |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent tale=Recipient |
| 3 | **sacrifice** | past · perfect | the old lady | Yeng |  |  |  | without hope of recompense or reward | vn contribute-13.2-1-1 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent herself=Theme |
| 5 | **tell** |  | the devotion of the old lady |  |  |  |  |  | nom tale «communication intransitive»: of=agent |
| 6 | **devote** |  |  | the old lady |  |  |  |  | nom devotion «feeling transitive»: of=patient |
| 7 | **hope** |  | recompense |  |  |  |  |  | nom hope «feeling intransitive»: of=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:** «Winning Buddha's smile», Project Gutenberg book 78208 (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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