---
title: It is curious to see hundreds of caterpillars feeding all together i… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: It is curious to see hundreds of caterpillars feeding all together in one tray, and to hear the soft papery noise which they make while gnawing their mulberry-leaves. Who acts: It, caterpillars, trays. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Names of Incense Used., part 2, with its depen
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 2, sentence 36

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It is curious to see hundreds of caterpillars feeding all together in one tray, and to hear the soft papery noise which they make while gnawing their mulberry-leaves.

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**Who acts:** It, caterpillars, trays · **What happens:** be, see, feed, hear, make, gnaw · **To what, where:** hundreds, one tray, soft papery noise, mulberry leaves

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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 (It, caterpillars, trays), 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:pg8128:4:36
# text = It is curious to see hundreds of caterpillars feeding all together in one tray, and to hear the soft papery noise which they make while gnawing their mulberry-leaves.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	curious	curious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	hundreds	hundred	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	caterpillars	caterpillar	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	_
9	feeding	feed	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	acl	_	_
10	all	all	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	together	together	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	14	nummod	_	_
14	tray	tray	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
20	soft	soft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
21	papery	papery	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	noise	noise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
23	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	25	obj	_	_
24	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	make	make	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	acl:relcl	_	_
26	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
27	gnawing	gnaw	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	25	advcl	_	_
28	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
29	mulberry	mulberry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | It |  |  |  |  | curious *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **see** | to-infinitive |  | hundreds of caterpillars |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer hundred=Stimulus |
| 3 | **feed** | gerund | caterpillars *not said here* |  |  | one tray |  | together *property* | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent in tray=Location |
| 4 | **hear** | to-infinitive |  | the soft papery noise |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer noise=Stimulus |
| 5 | **make** | present | trays *= tray* | the soft papery noise |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset which=Product |
| 6 | **gnaw** | gerund | trays *= tray* *not said here* | trays's mulberry leaves |  |  |  |  | vn chew-39.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leaf=Patient |

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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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