---
title: The system itself he held to be infallible in the hands of a master. — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: The system itself he held to be infallible in the hands of a master. Who acts: system. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Names of Incense Used., part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 1, sentence 81

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The system itself he held to be infallible in the hands of a master.

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**Who acts:** system · **What happens:** hold, be · **To what, where:** hands

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This is a sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Names of Incense Used., part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (system), 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:pg8128:3:83
# text = The system itself he held to be infallible in the hands of a master.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	system	system	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	2	nmod:unmarked	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
7	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	cop	_	_
8	infallible	infallible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	xcomp	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold** | past | the system  system |  |  |  |  | teller *nsubj* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | to-infinitive | the system  system *not said here* |  |  | the hands of a master |  | infallible *property* | tree rules |

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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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