---
title: “Sire,” he said, “do you not believe that it would be advisable to k… — Winning Buddha's smile · tree and pragmatics
description: “Sire,” he said, “do you not believe that it would be advisable to know what your subjects think of this war before undertaking the campaign?” Who acts: Minister, you, it, subjects. A sentence of «Winning Buddha's smile», Winning Buddha’s Smile, part 11, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics o
---

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# Winning Buddha's smile, Winning Buddha’s Smile, part 11, sentence 9

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“Sire,” he said, “do you not believe that it would be advisable to know what your subjects think of this war before undertaking the campaign?”

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**Who acts:** Minister, you, it, subjects · **What happens:** say, not believe, be, know, think, undertake · **To what, where:** campaign · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Minister, you, it, subjects), 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:pg78208:13:9
# text = “Sire,” he said, “do you not believe that it would be advisable to know what your subjects think of this war before undertaking the campaign?”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Sire	sire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
10	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	believe	believe	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	ccomp	_	_
13	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
15	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
16	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	cop	_	_
17	advisable	advisable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	conj	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	csubj	_	_
20	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	23	obj	_	_
21	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	subjects	subject	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nsubj	_	_
23	think	think	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	ccomp	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	26	det	_	_
26	war	war	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
27	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
28	undertaking	undertake	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	23	advcl	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	campaign	campaign	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: ask* | past | Minister |  |  |  |  | Sire *ccomp* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **not** **believe** *in a quote* | present · do-support | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **is** *in a quote* | would | it |  |  |  |  | advisable *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **know** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 5 | **think** *speech: other* *in a quote* | present | your subjects |  |  |  |  | of this war; what *obj* | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot what=Theme |
| 6 | **undertake** *in a quote* | gerund | your subjects *not said here* | the campaign |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent campaign=Eventuality |

<!-- .note -->
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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