---
title: The King passed over to him the malicious letter, asking if he belie… — Winning Buddha's smile · tree and pragmatics
description: The King passed over to him the malicious letter, asking if he believed that Sun-Yen was really the author. Who acts: King, Sun. A sentence of «Winning Buddha's smile», Winning Buddha’s Smile, part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Winning Buddha's smile, Winning Buddha’s Smile, part 1, sentence 97

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The King passed over to him the malicious letter, asking if he believed that Sun-Yen was really the author.

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**Who acts:** King, Sun · **What happens:** pass over, ask, believe, be · **To what, where:** malicious letter, Mi, author · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Winning Buddha's smile», Winning Buddha’s Smile, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (King, Sun), 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:pg78208:3:97
# text = The King passed over to him the malicious letter, asking if he believed that Sun-Yen was really the author.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	passed	pass	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	over	over	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obl	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	malicious	malicious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	letter	letter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	asking	ask	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	parataxis	_	_
12	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	believed	believe	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	ccomp	_	_
15	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
16	Sun	Sun	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	Yen	Yen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	flat	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
20	really	really	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	author	author	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pass over** | past | the King | the malicious letter | Mi |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to he=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **believe** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | King |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **is a** | past | Sun | the author |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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