---
title: While the large animal turned and swam back toward the sea the girl… — Winning Buddha's smile · tree and pragmatics
description: While the large animal turned and swam back toward the sea the girl tried to comprehend the situation in which she found herself. Who acts: large animal, girl. A sentence of «Winning Buddha's smile», Winning Buddha’s Smile, part 6, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Winning Buddha's smile, Winning Buddha’s Smile, part 6, sentence 121

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While the large animal turned and swam back toward the sea the girl tried to comprehend the situation in which she found herself.

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**Who acts:** large animal, girl · **What happens:** turn, swim back, try, comprehend, find · **To what, where:** sea, situation, girl

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This is a sentence of «Winning Buddha's smile», Winning Buddha’s Smile, part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (large animal, girl), 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:pg78208:8:123
# text = While the large animal turned and swam back toward the sea the girl tried to comprehend the situation in which she found herself.
1	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	animal	animal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	turned	turn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	swam	swim	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
8	back	back	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
9	toward	toward	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	comprehend	comprehend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	xcomp	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	situation	situation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	22	obl	_	_
21	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	acl:relcl	_	_
23	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn** | past | the large animal |  |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **swim back** | past | the large animal *not said here* |  |  | the sea |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme toward sea=Trajectory |
| 3 | **try** | past | the girl |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **comprehend** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the girl *not said here* | the situation |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer situation=Stimulus |
| 5 | **find** | past | girl | girl |  | the situation |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent herself=Topic |

<!-- .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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