---
title: Even in the moment of this musing I began to doubt whether I was rea… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: Even in the moment of this musing I began to doubt whether I was really alone,—to ask myself whether there might not be something more than a mere shuddering of light in the thing that rocked beside me: some presence that haunted the dying flame, and was watching the watcher. Who acts: I, thing, pre
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Story of a Tengu\[1\], sentence 113

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Even in the moment of this musing I began to doubt whether I was really alone,—to ask myself whether there might not be something more than a mere shuddering of light in the thing that rocked beside me: some presence that haunted the dying flame, and was watching the watcher.

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**Who acts:** I, thing, presence · **What happens:** begin, doubt, be, ask, not be, rock · **To what, where:** musing, myself, something, dying flame, watcher

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This is a sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Story of a Tengu\[1\]. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, thing, presence), 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:pg8128:27:114
# text = Even in the moment of this musing I began to doubt whether I was really alone,—to ask myself whether there might not be something more than a mere shuddering of light in the thing that rocked beside me: some presence that haunted the dying flame, and was watching the watcher.
1	Even	even	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	in	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	det	_	_
7	musing	musing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	acl:relcl	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	doubt	doubt	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
12	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
13	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
15	really	really	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	alone	alone	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	ask	ask	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
21	myself	myself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	20	obj	_	_
22	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
23	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	20	ccomp	_	_
24	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
25	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	27	advmod	_	_
26	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	cop	_	_
27	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	23	conj	_	_
28	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	27	amod	_	_
29	than	than	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	mere	mere	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	shuddering	shuddering	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	_
35	in	in	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	_
38	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	39	nsubj	_	_
39	rocked	rock	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	acl:relcl	_	_
40	beside	beside	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	39	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	44	punct	_	_
43	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	44	det	_	_
44	presence	presence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	_
45	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	46	nsubj	_	_
46	haunted	haunt	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	acl:relcl	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
48	dying	die	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	49	amod	_	_
49	flame	flame	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
52	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	53	aux	_	_
53	watching	watch	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	46	advcl	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
55	watcher	watcher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | I | this musing *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **doubt** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | past | I |  |  |  |  | alone *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | to-infinitive |  | myself |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent myself=Recipient |
| 5 | **not** **is a** | might |  | something |  |  |  | some presence *nmod* | tree rules |
| 6 | **rock** | past | the thing |  |  |  |  | beside me | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme beside i=Location |
| 7 | **haunt** | past | some presence | the dying flame |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus flame=Experiencer |
| 8 | **die** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 9 | **watch** | past · progressive | some presence *not said here* | the watcher |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent watcher=Theme |

<!-- .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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