---
title: In common parlance the phrase “to shave the head” means to become a… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: In common parlance the phrase “to shave the head” means to become a monk or a nun. Who acts: phrase. 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 pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Morning Awakening After a Night’s Rest in a Temple, part 1, sentence 32

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In common parlance the phrase “to shave the head” means to become a monk or a nun.

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**Who acts:** phrase · **What happens:** shave, mean, become · **To what, where:** head, common parlance, monk · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (phrase), 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:pg8128:24:33
# text = In common parlance the phrase “to shave the head” means to become a monk or a nun.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	common	common	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	parlance	parlance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	phrase	phrase	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
6	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	shave	shave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	acl:relcl	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
12	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	monk	monk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	xcomp	_	_
17	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	nun	nun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shave** *in a quote* | to-infinitive | the phrase *not said here* | the head |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Patient |
| 2 | **mean** | present | the phrase |  |  | common parlance |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **become** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the phrase *not said here* | a monk or a nun |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=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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