---
title: The merest outline of the subject is terrifying! — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: The merest outline of the subject is terrifying! Who acts: merest outline. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Opening, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Opening, sentence 129

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The merest outline of the subject is terrifying!

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**Who acts:** merest outline · **What happens:** be

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This is a sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Opening. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (merest outline), 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:pg8128:1:131
# text = The merest outline of the subject is terrifying!
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	merest	mere	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	3	amod	_	_
3	outline	outline	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	subject	subject	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	terrifying	terrifying	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the merest outline of the subject |  |  |  |  | terrifying *property* | 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:** «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Project Gutenberg book 8128 (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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