---
title: They discussed in low tones the peril which threatened them and how… — Winning Buddha's smile · tree and pragmatics
description: They discussed in low tones the peril which threatened them and how it would be possible to escape. Who acts: things, peril, it. A sentence of «Winning Buddha's smile», Winning Buddha’s Smile, part 3, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Winning Buddha's smile, Winning Buddha’s Smile, part 3, sentence 72

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They discussed in low tones the peril which threatened them and how it would be possible to escape.

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**Who acts:** things, peril, it · **What happens:** discuss, threaten, be, escape · **To what, where:** low tones, things

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This is a sentence of «Winning Buddha's smile», Winning Buddha’s Smile, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (things, peril, it), 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:pg78208:5:74
# text = They discussed in low tones the peril which threatened them and how it would be possible to escape.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	discussed	discuss	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	low	low	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	tones	tone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	peril	peril	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	appos	_	_
8	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
9	threatened	threaten	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	acl:relcl	_	_
10	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
12	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	16	advmod	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
14	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
15	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	cop	_	_
16	possible	possible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	conj	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	escape	escape	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **discuss** *speech: other* | past | things *= thing* |  |  | low tones |  |  | vn chit\_chat-37.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **threaten** | past | the peril | things *= thing* |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus they=Experiencer |
| 3 | **is** | would | it |  |  |  |  | possible *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **escape** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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