---
title: They watched over them and came to their assistance when--on account… — Winning Buddha's smile · tree and pragmatics
description: They watched over them and came to their assistance when--on account of their blindness--they were awkward and clumsy. Who acts: ladies. A sentence of «Winning Buddha's smile», Winning Buddha’s Smile, part 10, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Winning Buddha's smile, Winning Buddha’s Smile, part 10, sentence 93

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They watched over them and came to their assistance when--on account of their blindness--they were awkward and clumsy.

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**Who acts:** ladies · **What happens:** watch, come, be, assist, account · **To what, where:** account, blindness

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This is a sentence of «Winning Buddha's smile», Winning Buddha’s Smile, part 10. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (ladies), 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:pg78208:12:95
# text = They watched over them and came to their assistance when--on account of their blindness--they were awkward and clumsy.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	watched	watch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	over	over	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obl	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	assistance	assistance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
10	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	on	on	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	account	account	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	blindness	blindness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
20	awkward	awkward	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	parataxis	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	clumsy	clumsy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **watch** | past | ladies *= lady* |  |  |  |  | over corners *= corner* | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent over they=Location |
| 2 | **come** | past | ladies *= lady* *not said here* |  |  | account of ladies's blindness |  | to ladies's assistance | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to assistance=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **is** | past | ladies *= lady* |  |  |  |  | awkward *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **be** |  | ladies *= lady* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **assist** |  | ladies *= lady* |  |  |  |  |  | nom assistance «act transitive»: poss=agent |
| 6 | **account** |  |  | ladies's blindness |  |  |  |  | nom account «communication transitive»: of=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:** «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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