---
title: Between sea-wall and sea there is no sand,—only a grey slope of ston… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: Between sea-wall and sea there is no sand,—only a grey slope of stones, chiefly boulders; and these roll with the surf so that it is ugly work trying to pass the breakers on a rough day. Who acts: sand, these, ugly work. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Story of a Tengu[1], with i
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Story of a Tengu\[1\], sentence 63

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Between sea-wall and sea there is no sand,—only a grey slope of stones, chiefly boulders; and these roll with the surf so that it is ugly work trying to pass the breakers on a rough day.

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**Who acts:** sand, these, ugly work · **What happens:** be, roll, try, pass · **To what, where:** sea wall, ugly work, breakers

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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 (sand, these, ugly work), 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:pg8128:27:64
# text = Between sea-wall and sea there is no sand,—only a grey slope of stones, chiefly boulders; and these roll with the surf so that it is ugly work trying to pass the breakers on a rough day.
1	Between	between	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	wall	wall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
7	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	8	expl	_	_
8	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	10	det	_	_
10	sand	sand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	only	only	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	grey	grey	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	slope	slope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	stones	stone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	chiefly	chiefly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	boulders	boulder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	these	this	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	25	nsubj	_	_
25	roll	roll	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
26	with	with	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	surf	surf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
29	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	34	mark	_	_
30	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	29	fixed	_	_
31	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
32	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	34	cop	_	_
33	ugly	ugly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
35	trying	try	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	34	acl	_	_
36	to	to	PART	TO	_	37	mark	_	_
37	pass	pass	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	xcomp	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	breakers	breaker	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	obj	_	_
40	on	on	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
41	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
42	rough	rough	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
43	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | present | no sand |  |  | sea wall and sea; there |  | a grey slope of stones and chiefly boulders *conj* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme between wall=Location |
| 2 | **roll** | present | these |  |  |  |  | with the surf | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location with surf=Theme |
| 3 | **is a** | present | sand | ugly work |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **try** | gerund | ugly work *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **pass** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | ugly work *not said here* | the breakers |  |  | day |  | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme breaker=Trajectory |

<!-- .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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