---
title: The other curiosity is a recent impromptu effort to portray, in one… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: The other curiosity is a recent impromptu effort to portray, in one verse of seventeen syllables, the last degree of devil-may-care-poverty,—perhaps the brave misery of the wandering student;—and I very much doubt whether the effort could be improved upon:— Who acts: other curiosity, I. A sentence o
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Morning Awakening After a Night’s Rest in a Temple, part 1, sentence 13

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The other curiosity is a recent impromptu effort to portray, in one verse of seventeen syllables, the last degree of devil-may-care-poverty,—perhaps the brave misery of the wandering student;—and I very much doubt whether the effort could be improved upon:—

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**Who acts:** other curiosity, I · **What happens:** be, portray, wonder, doubt, improve, verse · **To what, where:** recent impromptu effort, effort, seventeen syllables

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This is a sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Morning Awakening After a Night’s Rest in a Temple, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (other curiosity, I), 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:pg8128:24:13
# text = The other curiosity is a recent impromptu effort to portray, in one verse of seventeen syllables, the last degree of devil-may-care-poverty,—perhaps the brave misery of the wandering student;—and I very much doubt whether the effort could be improved upon:—
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	curiosity	curiosity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
6	recent	recent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
7	impromptu	impromptu	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	effort	effort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	portray	portray	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	14	nummod	_	_
14	verse	verse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	seventeen	seventeen	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	17	nummod	_	_
17	syllables	syllable	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	degree	degree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
23	devil	devil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	care	care	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	poverty	poverty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	35	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	brave	brave	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	misery	misery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
38	wandering	wonder	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	39	amod	_	_
39	student	student	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	46	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
43	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
44	very	very	ADV	RB	_	45	advmod	_	_
45	much	much	ADV	RB	_	46	advmod	_	_
46	doubt	doubt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	_
47	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	52	mark	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	effort	effort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	nsubj	_	_
50	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	52	aux	_	_
51	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	52	aux:pass	_	_
52	improved	improve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	46	acl	_	_
53	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	52	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | the other curiosity | a recent impromptu effort and one verse of seventeen syllables and the last degree of care poverty  devil and the brave misery of the wandering student and doubt |  |  |  | one verse of seventeen syllables *conj*; the last degree of care poverty  devil *conj*; the brave misery of the wandering student *conj* | tree rules |
| 2 | **portray** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **wonder** *speech: ask* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **doubt** |  | I |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **improve** | could · passive |  | the effort |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: subject=Patient |
| 6 | **verse** |  |  | seventeen syllables |  |  |  |  | nom verse «communication transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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:** «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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