---
title: More than once I tried to persuade him to pass the colder months of… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: More than once I tried to persuade him to pass the colder months of the winter-season under my roof,—for he possessed an extraordinary knowledge of traditions, and could have been of inestimable service to me in a literary way. Who acts: I, Tōkyō. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, 
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 1, sentence 89

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More than once I tried to persuade him to pass the colder months of the winter-season under my roof,—for he possessed an extraordinary knowledge of traditions, and could have been of inestimable service to me in a literary way.

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**Who acts:** I, Tōkyō · **What happens:** try, persuade, pass, possess, be · **To what, where:** Tōkyō, roof, extraordinary knowledge, literary way, me

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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 (I, Tōkyō), 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:pg8128:3:91
# text = More than once I tried to persuade him to pass the colder months of the winter-season under my roof,—for he possessed an extraordinary knowledge of traditions, and could have been of inestimable service to me in a literary way.
1	More	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp|ExtPos=ADV	3	advmod	_	_
2	than	than	ADP	IN	_	1	fixed	_	_
3	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	5	advmod	_	_
4	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	persuade	persuade	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	pass	pass	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	colder	cold	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	13	amod	_	_
13	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
16	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	season	season	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
19	under	under	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	roof	roof	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	possessed	possess	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
27	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	extraordinary	extraordinary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	knowledge	knowledge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	traditions	tradition	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
34	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
35	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	aux	_	_
36	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	39	cop	_	_
37	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	inestimable	inestimable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	service	service	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
40	to	to	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	39	nmod	_	_
42	in	in	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
43	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
44	literary	literary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	amod	_	_
45	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | past | I |  |  |  |  | once *property* | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **persuade** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | Tōkyō |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Patient clause=Result |
| 3 | **pass** | to-infinitive | Tōkyō *not said here* |  |  | my roof | month |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme under roof=Location |
| 4 | **possess** | past | Tōkyō | a extraordinary knowledge of traditions |  | a literary way |  |  | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot knowledge=Theme |
| 5 | **is** | could · perfect |  |  | me |  |  | of inestimable service | tree rules |

<!-- .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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