---
title: So great was his surprise that he recoiled for a moment, but quickly… — Winning Buddha's smile · tree and pragmatics
description: So great was his surprise that he recoiled for a moment, but quickly suppressing this instinctive impulse, he went toward her, saying: Who acts: man. A sentence of «Winning Buddha's smile», Winning Buddha’s Smile, part 7, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Winning Buddha's smile, Winning Buddha’s Smile, part 7, sentence 8

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So great was his surprise that he recoiled for a moment, but quickly suppressing this instinctive impulse, he went toward her, saying:

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**Who acts:** man · **What happens:** be, recoil, suppress, go, say · **To what, where:** great surprise, instinctive impulse · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Winning Buddha's smile», Winning Buddha’s Smile, part 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man), 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:pg78208:9:8
# text = So great was his surprise that he recoiled for a moment, but quickly suppressing this instinctive impulse, he went toward her, saying:
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	surprise	surprise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl:unmarked	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	recoiled	recoil	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	quickly	quickly	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	suppressing	suppress	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
16	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	18	det	_	_
17	instinctive	instinctive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	impulse	impulse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
22	toward	toward	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
25	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	21	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | man's great surprise |  |  |  | man *nmod:poss* | tree rules |
| 2 | **recoil** | past | man |  |  |  | moment |  | vn flinch-40.5 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **suppress** | gerund | man *not said here* | this instinctive impulse |  |  |  | quickly *property* | vn subjugate-42.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent impulse=Patient |
| 4 | **go** | past | man |  |  |  |  | toward girl | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme toward she=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund | man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=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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