---
title: Alas the house where he expected to find his beautiful little wife h… — Winning Buddha's smile · tree and pragmatics
description: Alas the house where he expected to find his beautiful little wife had been burned to the ground, as if blasted by a dragon’s fiery breath. Who acts: task. A sentence of «Winning Buddha's smile», Winning Buddha’s Smile, part 9, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Winning Buddha's smile, Winning Buddha’s Smile, part 9, sentence 91

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Alas the house where he expected to find his beautiful little wife had been burned to the ground, as if blasted by a dragon’s fiery breath.

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**Who acts:** task · **What happens:** expect, find, burn, blast · **To what, where:** beautiful little wife · **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 (task), 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:pg78208:11:93
# text = Alas the house where he expected to find his beautiful little wife had been burned to the ground, as if blasted by a dragon’s fiery breath.
1	Alas	alas	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
4	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	6	advmod	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	expected	expect	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
10	beautiful	beautiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
11	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	15	aux:pass	_	_
15	burned	burn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	ccomp	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
21	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
22	blasted	blast	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	conj	_	_
23	by	by	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	’s	's	PART	POS	_	25	case	_	_
27	fiery	fiery	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	breath	breath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **expect** | past | task |  |  |  |  | alas the house | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **find** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | task *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **burn** | past · perfect · passive |  | task's beautiful little wife |  |  |  | to the ground | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V NP.theme»: subject=Theme |
| 4 | **blast** *a condition, not said to happen* | participle |  |  |  |  |  | by a dragon's fiery breath | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by breath=Location |

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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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