---
title: On hearing these words, the priest knew that he was speaking with a… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: On hearing these words, the priest knew that he was speaking with a Tengu; and he frankly made answer:—“My friend, I have long ceased to care for the things of this world: I am now seventy years of age; neither fame nor pleasure has any attraction for me. Who acts: priest, fame. A sentence of «In Gh
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Story of a Tengu\[1\], sentence 21

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On hearing these words, the priest knew that he was speaking with a Tengu; and he frankly made answer:—“My friend, I have long ceased to care for the things of this world: I am now seventy years of age; neither fame nor pleasure has any attraction for me.

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**Who acts:** priest, fame · **What happens:** hear, know, speak, make, cease, care · **To what, where:** words, answer, friend, seventy years, attraction · **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 (priest, fame), 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:pg8128:27:21
# text = On hearing these words, the priest knew that he was speaking with a Tengu; and he frankly made answer:—“My friend, I have long ceased to care for the things of this world: I am now seventy years of age; neither fame nor pleasure has any attraction for me.
1	On	on	SCONJ	IN	_	2	mark	_	_
2	hearing	hear	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
3	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	4	det	_	_
4	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	priest	priest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	speaking	speak	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	ccomp	_	_
13	with	with	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	Tengu	Tengu	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	frankly	frankly	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
21	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	31	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	31	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
28	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
29	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
30	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	31	advmod	_	_
31	ceased	cease	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	care	care	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	xcomp	_	_
34	for	for	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obl	_	_
37	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	39	det	_	_
39	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	45	punct	_	_
41	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
42	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	45	cop	_	_
43	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	44	advmod	_	_
44	seventy	seventy	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	45	nummod	_	_
45	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
46	of	of	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
47	age	age	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	53	punct	_	_
49	neither	neither	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	50	det	_	_
50	fame	fame	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	nsubj	_	_
51	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	52	cc	_	_
52	pleasure	pleasure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	conj	_	_
53	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
54	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	55	det	_	_
55	attraction	attraction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obj	_	_
56	for	for	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
57	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	55	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | gerund | the priest *not said here* | this words |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer word=Stimulus |
| 2 | **know** | past | the priest |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **speak** *speech: other* | past · progressive | priest |  |  |  |  | with a Tengu | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with tengu=Co-Agent |
| 4 | **make** | past | priest | answer |  |  |  | frankly *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent answer=Product |
| 5 | **cease** *in a quote* | present · perfect · passive |  | My friend |  |  |  | I *nsubj*; long *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **care** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | for the things of this world | vn caring-75.2-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent for thing=Theme |
| 7 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | the priest *= priest* | seventy years |  |  | of age; now |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **have** *in a quote* | present | neither fame nor pleasure | any attraction |  |  |  | for the priest *= priest* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent attraction=Patient |

<!-- .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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