---
title: When you learn that some exquisite text of gold means only, “_Evenin… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: When you learn that some exquisite text of gold means only, “_Evening-sunlight on the wings of the water-fowl_,”—or,”_Now in my garden the flowers bloom, and the butterflies dance_,”—then your first interest in decorative poetry is apt to wither away. Who acts: you, exquisite text, flowers, butterfl
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Shintō Revery, sentence 8

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When you learn that some exquisite text of gold means only, “\_Evening-sunlight on the wings of the water-fowl\_,”—or,”\_Now in my garden the flowers bloom, and the butterflies dance\_,”—then your first interest in decorative poetry is apt to wither away.

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**Who acts:** you, exquisite text, flowers, butterflies, first interest, your · **What happens:** learn, mean, bloom, dance, be, wither away · **To what, where:** Evening sunlight, wings, garden, decorative poetry · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Shintō Revery. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, exquisite text, flowers, butterflies), 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:pg8128:23:9
# text = When you learn that some exquisite text of gold means only, “_Evening-sunlight on the wings of the water-fowl_,”—or,”_Now in my garden the flowers bloom, and the butterflies dance_,”—then your first interest in decorative poetry is apt to wither away.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	learn	learn	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	58	advcl	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
5	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	7	det	_	_
6	exquisite	exquisite	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	text	text	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
10	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
11	only	only	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	Evening	evening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
18	on	on	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
23	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	fowl	fowl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	3	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	37	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	30	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	30	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	37	advmod	_	_
35	in	in	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	garden	garden	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	flowers	flower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	nsubj	_	_
40	bloom	bloom	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	37	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	butterflies	butterfly	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	nsubj	_	_
45	dance	dance	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	45	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	53	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	53	advmod	_	_
51	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	53	nmod:poss	_	_
52	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	53	amod	_	_
53	interest	interest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	nsubj	_	_
54	in	in	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
55	decorative	decorative	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	56	amod	_	_
56	poetry	poetry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	nmod	_	_
57	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	58	cop	_	_
58	apt	apt	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
59	to	to	PART	TO	_	60	mark	_	_
60	wither	wither	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	58	csubj	_	_
61	away	away	ADV	RB	_	60	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	58	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **learn** | present | you | Evening sunlight |  | the wings of the water fowl |  | in my garden | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **mean** | present | some exquisite text of gold |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **bloom** *in a quote* | present | the flowers | my garden *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn entity\_specific\_modes\_being-47.2 «NP.location V NP»: agent=Location garden=Theme |
| 4 | **dance** *in a quote* | present | the butterflies |  |  |  |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **is** | present | your first interest in decorative poetry |  |  |  |  | apt *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **wither away** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn entity\_specific\_cos-45.5 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 7 | **interest** |  | your |  |  | decorative poetry |  |  | nom interest «cognition transitive»: poss=agent in=place |

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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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