---
title: There is plenty of fun in helping at such work; and if you are a str… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: There is plenty of fun in helping at such work; and if you are a stranger, the fisher-folk will perhaps reward your pains by showing you the wonders of their sea: crabs with legs of astonishing length, balloon-fish that blow themselves up in the most absurd manner, and various other creatures of sha
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Story of a Tengu\[1\], sentence 77

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There is plenty of fun in helping at such work; and if you are a stranger, the fisher-folk will perhaps reward your pains by showing you the wonders of their sea: crabs with legs of astonishing length, balloon-fish that blow themselves up in the most absurd manner, and various other creatures of shapes so extraordinary that you can scarcely believe them natural without touching them.

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**Who acts:** plenty, fun, you, fisher folk, legs, balloon fish · **What happens:** be, help, reward, show, astonish, blow up · **To what, where:** such work, stranger, pains, wonders, you, length

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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 (plenty, fun, you, fisher folk), 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:pg8128:27:78
# text = There is plenty of fun in helping at such work; and if you are a stranger, the fisher-folk will perhaps reward your pains by showing you the wonders of their sea: crabs with legs of astonishing length, balloon-fish that blow themselves up in the most absurd manner, and various other creatures of shapes so extraordinary that you can scarcely believe them natural without touching them.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	plenty	plenty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	fun	fun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
6	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
7	helping	help	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	acl	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
13	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
14	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
15	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	stranger	stranger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
20	fisher	fisher	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	folk	folk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
23	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
24	perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	reward	reward	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	parataxis	_	_
26	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	pains	pain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obj	_	_
28	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
29	showing	show	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	25	advcl	_	_
30	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	29	iobj	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	wonders	wonder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obj	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	37	punct	_	_
37	crabs	crab	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	conj	_	_
38	with	with	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	nmod	_	_
40	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	41	mark	_	_
41	astonishing	astonish	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	39	acl	_	_
42	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
44	balloon	balloon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	44	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	fish	fish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	conj	_	_
47	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	48	nsubj	_	_
48	blow	blow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	46	acl:relcl	_	_
49	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	48	obj	_	_
50	up	up	ADP	RP	_	48	compound:prt	_	_
51	in	in	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
53	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	54	advmod	_	_
54	absurd	absurd	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	55	amod	_	_
55	manner	manner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	60	punct	_	_
57	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	60	cc	_	_
58	various	various	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	60	amod	_	_
59	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	60	amod	_	_
60	creatures	creature	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	conj	_	_
61	of	of	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
62	shapes	shape	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	60	nmod	_	_
63	so	so	ADV	RB	_	64	advmod	_	_
64	extraordinary	extraordinary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	60	acl:relcl	_	_
65	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	69	mark	_	_
66	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	69	nsubj	_	_
67	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	69	aux	_	_
68	scarcely	scarcely	ADV	RB	_	69	advmod	_	_
69	believe	believe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	64	advcl	_	_
70	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	69	obj	_	_
71	natural	natural	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	69	xcomp	_	_
72	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	73	mark	_	_
73	touching	touch	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	71	advcl	_	_
74	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	73	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
75	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | present | plenty of fun |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **help** | gerund | fun *not said here* |  |  | such work |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is a** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | you | a stranger |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **reward** | future | the fisher folk | your pains |  |  |  | perhaps *property* | vn equip-13.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent pain=Recipient |
| 5 | **show** | gerund | the fisher folk *not said here* | the wonders of wonders's sea and crabs with legs and various other creatures of shapes | you |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent you=Recipient wonder=Topic |
| 6 | **astonish** | gerund | legs *not said here* | length and balloon fish |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus length=Experiencer |
| 7 | **blow up** | present | balloon fish | length |  |  |  | in the absurd manner | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient PP.theme»: agent=Agent themselves=Patient in manner=Topic |
| 8 | **believe** | can | you | length |  |  |  | natural, scarcely *property* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer they=Stimulus |
| 9 | **touch** | gerund | you *not said here* | length |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme they=Co-Theme |
| 10 | **pain** |  | your |  |  |  |  |  | nom pain «state transitive»: poss=agent |
| 11 | **wonder** |  |  | wonders's sea |  |  |  |  | nom wonder «feeling transitive»: of=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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