---
title: Ah, my friend! if it were possible to conquer Time and Space, like t… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: Ah, my friend! if it were possible to conquer Time and Space, like the Bodhisattvas, so that I could look upon that marvellous assembly, how happy should I be!” Who acts: it, I. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Story of a Tengu[1], with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ev
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Story of a Tengu\[1\], sentence 26

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Ah, my friend! if it were possible to conquer Time and Space, like the Bodhisattvas, so that I could look upon that marvellous assembly, how happy should I be!”

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**Who acts:** it, I · **What happens:** be, conquer, look · **To what, where:** Time

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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 (it, I), 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:pg8128:27:26
# text = Ah, my friend! if it were possible to conquer Time and Space, like the Bodhisattvas, so that I could look upon that marvellous assembly, how happy should I be!”
1	Ah	ah	INTJ	UH	_	9	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
6	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	possible	possible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	conquer	conquer	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	csubj	_	_
12	Time	Time	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	Space	Space	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	like	like	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	Bodhisattvas	Bodhisattva	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
20	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	24	mark	_	_
21	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	20	fixed	_	_
22	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	conj	_	_
25	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	28	det	_	_
27	marvellous	marvellous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	assembly	assembly	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	31	advmod	_	_
31	happy	happy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	conj	_	_
32	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
33	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
34	be	be	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | it |  |  |  |  | possible *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **conquer** | to-infinitive |  | Time and Space |  |  |  | the Bodhisattvas *obj* | tree rules |
| 3 | **look** | could | I |  |  |  |  | upon that marvellous assembly | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent upon assembly=Theme |
| 4 | **be** | should | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=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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