--- title: [76] Not so commonplace a proverb as might appear at first sight; fo… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics description: [76] Not so commonplace a proverb as might appear at first sight; for it refers especially to the Buddhist belief that every kindness shown to us in this life is a return of kindness done to others in a former life, and that every wrong inflicted upon us is the reflex of some injustice which we comm --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/25/221/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [In Ghostly Japan](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/) / [Morning Awakening After a Night’s Rest…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/25/) / 221 # In Ghostly Japan, Morning Awakening After a Night’s Rest in a Temple, part 2, sentence 221 \[76\] Not so commonplace a proverb as might appear at first sight; for it refers especially to the Buddhist belief that every kindness shown to us in this life is a return of kindness done to others in a former life, and that every wrong inflicted upon us is the reflex of some injustice which we committed in a previous birth. **Who acts:** proverb, sight, kindness, wrong, reflex · **What happens:** appear, refer, show, be, do, inflict · **To what, where:** sight, kindness, us, return, former life, reflex This is a sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Morning Awakening After a Night’s Rest in a Temple, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (proverb, sight, kindness, wrong), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg8128:25:221 # text = [76] Not so commonplace a proverb as might appear at first sight; for it refers especially to the Buddhist belief that every kindness shown to us in this life is a return of kindness done to others in a former life, and that every wrong inflicted upon us is the reflex of some injustice which we committed in a previous birth. 1 [ [ PUNCT -LRB- _ 2 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 76 76 NUM CD NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 3 ] ] PUNCT -RRB- _ 2 punct _ _ 4 Not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 5 advmod _ _ 5 so so ADV RB _ 2 conj _ _ 6 commonplace commonplace NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 list _ _ 7 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 proverb proverb NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 appos _ _ 9 as as SCONJ IN _ 11 mark _ _ 10 might might AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 11 aux _ _ 11 appear appear VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 8 acl _ _ 12 at at ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 13 first first ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 14 advmod _ _ 14 sight sight NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 15 ; ; PUNCT , _ 18 punct _ _ 16 for for SCONJ IN _ 18 mark _ _ 17 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 nsubj _ _ 18 refers refer VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 11 conj _ _ 19 especially especially ADV RB _ 23 advmod _ _ 20 to to ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 21 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 22 Buddhist Buddhist PROPN NNP Number=Sing 23 compound _ _ 23 belief belief NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obl _ _ 24 that that SCONJ IN _ 35 mark _ _ 25 every every DET DT PronType=Tot 26 det _ _ 26 kindness kindness NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 nsubj _ _ 27 shown show VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 26 acl _ _ 28 to to ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 29 us we PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 27 obl _ _ 30 in in ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 31 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 32 det _ _ 32 life life NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 obl _ _ 33 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 35 cop _ _ 34 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 35 return return NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 acl _ _ 36 of of ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 37 kindness kindness NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 nmod _ _ 38 done do VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 37 acl _ _ 39 to to ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 40 others other NOUN NNS Number=Plur 38 obl _ _ 41 in in ADP IN _ 44 case _ _ 42 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 44 det _ _ 43 former former ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 44 amod _ _ 44 life life NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 45 , , PUNCT , _ 49 punct _ _ 46 and and CCONJ CC _ 49 cc _ _ 47 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 49 nsubj _ _ 48 every every DET DT PronType=Tot 49 det _ _ 49 wrong wrong ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 55 nsubj _ _ 50 inflicted inflict VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 49 csubj _ _ 51 upon upon ADP IN _ 52 case _ _ 52 us we PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 50 obl _ _ 53 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 55 cop _ _ 54 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 55 det _ _ 55 reflex reflex NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 parataxis _ _ 56 of of ADP IN _ 58 case _ _ 57 some some DET DT PronType=Ind 58 det _ _ 58 injustice injustice NOUN NN Number=Sing 55 nmod _ _ 59 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 61 nsubj _ _ 60 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 61 nsubj _ _ 61 committed commit VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 55 parataxis _ _ 62 in in ADP IN _ 65 case _ _ 63 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 65 det _ _ 64 previous previous ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 65 amod _ _ 65 birth birth NOUN NN Number=Sing 61 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 66 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **appear** | might | a proverb *not said here* | | | sight | | | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at sight=Location | | 2 | **refer** | present | sight | | | | | to the Buddhist belief | vn relate-86.2-2 «NP V PP.co-theme»: agent=Theme to belief=Co-Theme | | 3 | **show** | participle | | every kindness *not said here* | us | | | in this life | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient PP.theme»: agent=Agent to we=Recipient in life=Topic | | 4 | **is a** | present | every kindness | a return | | | | of kindness | tree rules | | 5 | **do** | participle | | kindness *not said here* | | a former life | | to others | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **inflict** | participle | | | | | | upon us | tree rules | | 7 | **is a** | present | every wrong that | the reflex | | | | of some injustice | tree rules | | 8 | **commit** | past | the reflex | | | a previous birth | | we *nsubj* | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in birth=Destination | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 220](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/25/220/) - next →: [sentence 222](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/25/222/) - ↑ back to [Morning Awakening After a Night’s Rest in a Temple, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/25/)