---
title: “I have been thinking,” he said, “about the constancy of the relativ… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: “I have been thinking,” he said, “about the constancy of the relative proportion of the sexes, and wondering whether Buddhist doctrine furnishes an explanation. Who acts: Tōkyō, Buddhist doctrine. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Morning Awakening After a Night’s Rest in a Temple,
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Morning Awakening After a Night’s Rest in a Temple, part 3, sentence 4

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“I have been thinking,” he said, “about the constancy of the relative proportion of the sexes, and wondering whether Buddhist doctrine furnishes an explanation.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Tōkyō, Buddhist doctrine · **What happens:** think, say, wonder, furnish · **To what, where:** explanation · **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 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Tōkyō, Buddhist doctrine), 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:pg8128:26:4
# text = “I have been thinking,” he said, “about the constancy of the relative proportion of the sexes, and wondering whether Buddhist doctrine furnishes an explanation.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	aux	_	_
5	thinking	think	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	about	about	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	constancy	constancy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	ccomp	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	relative	relative	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	proportion	proportion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	sexes	sex	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	wondering	wonder	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	9	advcl	_	_
25	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
26	Buddhist	buddhist	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	doctrine	doctrine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
28	furnishes	furnish	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	advcl	_	_
29	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	explanation	explanation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* *in a quote* | present · perfect · progressive | Tōkyō |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Tōkyō |  |  |  |  | the constancy of the relative proportion of the sexes *ccomp* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **wonder** *speech: ask* *in a quote* | gerund | Tōkyō *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **furnish** *in a quote* | present | Buddhist doctrine | a explanation |  |  |  |  | vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent explanation=Recipient |

<!-- .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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