---
title: The proverb is often used in a sense similar to that of the English… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: The proverb is often used in a sense similar to that of the English saying: “Watched pot never boils.” Who acts: Watched pot. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Morning Awakening After a Night’s Rest in a Temple, part 2, 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 2, sentence 35

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The proverb is often used in a sense similar to that of the English saying: “Watched pot never boils.”

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**Who acts:** Watched pot · **What happens:** use, watch, not boil · **To what, where:** proverb, sense · **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 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Watched pot), 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:pg8128:25:35
# text = The proverb is often used in a sense similar to that of the English saying: “Watched pot never boils.”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	proverb	proverb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
4	often	often	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	sense	sense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	similar	similar	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	9	obl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	English	English	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	saying	saying	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	21	punct	_	_
17	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	Watched	watch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	amod	_	_
19	pot	pot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
20	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	21	advmod	_	_
21	boils	boil	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	21	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | present · passive |  | the proverb |  | a sense |  | often *property* | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: subject=Theme clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **watch** *in a quote* | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **not** **boil** *in a quote* | present | Watched pot |  |  |  |  |  | vn cooking-45.3 «NP.patient V»: 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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