---
title: Perhaps the stronger dog will always seek to oppress the weaker, but… — Winning Buddha's smile · tree and pragmatics
description: Perhaps the stronger dog will always seek to oppress the weaker, but are we not superior beings and do we not possess reason which teaches tolerance and mercy to our neighbors? Who acts: stronger dog, we, reason. A sentence of «Winning Buddha's smile», Winning Buddha’s Smile, part 11, with its depen
---

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# Winning Buddha's smile, Winning Buddha’s Smile, part 11, sentence 33

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Perhaps the stronger dog will always seek to oppress the weaker, but are we not superior beings and do we not possess reason which teaches tolerance and mercy to our neighbors?

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**Who acts:** stronger dog, we, reason · **What happens:** seek, oppress, not be, not possess, teach · **To what, where:** weaker, superior beings, reason, tolerance, neighbors

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This is a sentence of «Winning Buddha's smile», Winning Buddha’s Smile, part 11. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (stronger dog, we, reason), 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:pg78208:13:33
# text = Perhaps the stronger dog will always seek to oppress the weaker, but are we not superior beings and do we not possess reason which teaches tolerance and mercy to our neighbors?
1	Perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	stronger	strong	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	amod	_	_
4	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
5	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
6	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	7	advmod	_	_
7	seek	seek	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	oppress	oppress	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	weaker	weak	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
14	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
15	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
16	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	18	advmod	_	_
17	superior	superior	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	beings	being	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
20	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
21	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
22	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	23	advmod	_	_
23	possess	possess	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
24	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
25	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	26	nsubj	_	_
26	teaches	teach	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	acl:relcl	_	_
27	tolerance	tolerance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	mercy	mercy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	conj	_	_
30	to	to	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	neighbors	neighbor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seek** | future | the stronger dog |  |  |  |  | always, perhaps *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **oppress** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the stronger dog *not said here* | the weaker |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **is a** | present | we | superior beings |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **not** **possess** | present · do-support | we | reason |  |  |  |  | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot reason=Theme |
| 5 | **teach** *speech: other* | present | reason | tolerance and mercy | our neighbors |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent tolerance=Topic to neighbor=Recipient |

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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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