---
title: Instead of retracing their steps at once they continued on their way… — Winning Buddha's smile · tree and pragmatics
description: Instead of retracing their steps at once they continued on their way to the neighboring village and were the first ones to find the baby which Yeng-Si had left there a half hour or so before. Who acts: steps, clutches. A sentence of «Winning Buddha's smile», Winning Buddha’s Smile, part 4, with its 
---

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# Winning Buddha's smile, Winning Buddha’s Smile, part 4, sentence 48

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Instead of retracing their steps at once they continued on their way to the neighboring village and were the first ones to find the baby which Yeng-Si had left there a half hour or so before.

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**Who acts:** steps, clutches · **What happens:** retrace, continue, neighbor, be, find, leave · **To what, where:** steps, way, first ones, baby, Yeng

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This is a sentence of «Winning Buddha's smile», Winning Buddha’s Smile, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (steps, clutches), 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:pg78208:6:50
# text = Instead of retracing their steps at once they continued on their way to the neighboring village and were the first ones to find the baby which Yeng-Si had left there a half hour or so before.
1	Instead	instead	ADV	RB	ExtPos=SCONJ	3	mark	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	1	fixed	_	_
3	retracing	retrace	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	_
4	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	steps	step	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	9	obl	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	continued	continue	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	neighboring	neighbor	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	16	amod	_	_
16	village	village	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
18	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	21	amod	_	_
21	ones	one	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	conj	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	advcl	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	baby	baby	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
26	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	31	obj	_	_
27	Yeng	Yeng	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	31	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	Si	Si	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	flat	_	_
30	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	25	acl:relcl	_	_
32	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	31	advmod	_	_
33	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	half	half	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing|NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac	35	compound	_	_
35	hour	hour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl:unmarked	_	_
36	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
37	so	so	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
38	before	before	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **retrace** | gerund | steps *= step* *not said here* | clutches's steps |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **continue** | past | steps *= step* |  |  | steps's way to the neighboring village |  | before *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **neighbor** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **is a** | past | steps *= step* *not said here* | the first ones |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **find** | to-infinitive | steps *= step* *not said here* | the baby |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent baby=Topic |
| 6 | **leave** | past · perfect · passive |  | Yeng |  | there | hour | the baby *obj* | vn sustain-55.6-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Theme which=Attribute |
| 7 | **step** |  | clutches *= clutch* |  |  |  |  |  | nom step «act transitive»: poss=agent |

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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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