---
title: As I touched the stones again, I was startled by seeing two white sh… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: As I touched the stones again, I was startled by seeing two white shadows before me; but a kindly voice, asking if the water was cold, set me at ease. Who acts: I, water. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Story of a Tengu[1], with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every cla
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Story of a Tengu\[1\], sentence 118

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
As I touched the stones again, I was startled by seeing two white shadows before me; but a kindly voice, asking if the water was cold, set me at ease.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, water · **What happens:** touch, startle, see, ask, be, set · **To what, where:** stones, I, two white shadows, me, ease · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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, water), 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:pg8128:27:119
# text = As I touched the stones again, I was startled by seeing two white shadows before me; but a kindly voice, asking if the water was cold, set me at ease.
1	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	touched	touch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	stones	stone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	again	again	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
8	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	startled	startle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
11	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
12	seeing	see	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	advcl	_	_
13	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	15	nummod	_	_
14	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	shadows	shadow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	_
16	before	before	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	kindly	kindly	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	voice	voice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
24	asking	ask	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	10	conj	_	_
25	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
28	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	cop	_	_
29	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
31	set	set	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	ccomp	_	_
32	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	31	obj	_	_
33	at	at	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	ease	ease	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **touch** | past | I | the stones |  |  | again |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme stone=Co-Theme |
| 2 | **startle** | past · passive |  | I |  |  |  | a voice *obl* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 3 | **see** | gerund |  | two white shadows |  |  | before me |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer shadow=Stimulus |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | the water |  |  |  |  | cold *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **set** | infinitive |  | me |  | ease |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent i=Theme at ease=Destination |

<!-- .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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