---
title: “Is it possible,” he exclaimed, “that you never saw a silkworm-moth? — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: “Is it possible,” he exclaimed, “that you never saw a silkworm-moth? Who acts: eyebrow, Niimi, you. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Names of Incense Used., part 2, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 2, sentence 22

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“Is it possible,” he exclaimed, “that you never saw a silkworm-moth?

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**Who acts:** eyebrow, Niimi, you · **What happens:** be, exclaim, not see · **To what, where:** silkworm moth · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Names of Incense Used., part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (eyebrow, Niimi, you), 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:pg8128:4:22
# text = “Is it possible,” he exclaimed, “that you never saw a silkworm-moth?
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	possible	possible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	exclaimed	exclaim	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
12	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	14	advmod	_	_
14	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
16	silkworm	silkworm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	moth	moth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | present | eyebrow |  |  |  |  | possible *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **exclaim** *speech: express* | past | Niimi |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **not** **see** *in a quote* | past | you | a silkworm moth |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer moth=Stimulus |

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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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