---
title: This proverb is used in reference to the conduct of those who undert… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: This proverb is used in reference to the conduct of those who undertake to do some work, and leave the most essential part of the work unfinished. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Morning Awakening After a Night’s Rest in a Temple, part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmati
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Morning Awakening After a Night’s Rest in a Temple, part 1, sentence 131

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This proverb is used in reference to the conduct of those who undertake to do some work, and leave the most essential part of the work unfinished.

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**What happens:** use, undertake, do, leave, conduct · **To what, where:** proverb, reference, work, essential part, those

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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: 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:pg8128:24:132
# text = This proverb is used in reference to the conduct of those who undertake to do some work, and leave the most essential part of the work unfinished.
1	This	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	det	_	_
2	proverb	proverb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	reference	reference	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	conduct	conduct	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	those	that	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	9	nmod	_	_
12	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	13	nsubj	_	_
13	undertake	undertake	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	acl:relcl	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	_
16	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	17	det	_	_
17	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	leave	leave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	parataxis	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
22	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	23	advmod	_	_
23	essential	essential	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	compound	_	_
28	unfinished	unfinished	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | present · passive |  | this proverb |  | reference |  | to the conduct of those | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **undertake** | present |  |  |  |  |  | who *nsubj* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **do** | to-infinitive |  | some work |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent work=Eventuality |
| 4 | **leave** | infinitive |  | the essential part of the work unfinished |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent part=Theme |
| 5 | **conduct** |  |  | those |  |  |  |  | nom conduct «act transitive»: of=patient |

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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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