---
title: But I fear that I did not act like a person who felt interested in t… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: But I fear that I did not act like a person who felt interested in the subject; for, even while I tried to listen, I began to muse. Who acts: I, person. 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 47

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But I fear that I did not act like a person who felt interested in the subject; for, even while I tried to listen, I began to muse.

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**Who acts:** I, person · **What happens:** fear, not act, feel, try, listen, begin

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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 (I, person), 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:pg8128:4:47
# text = But I fear that I did not act like a person who felt interested in the subject; for, even while I tried to listen, I began to muse.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	fear	fear	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
5	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
6	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
8	act	act	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
9	like	like	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	13	nsubj	_	_
13	felt	feel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	acl:relcl	_	_
14	interested	interested	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	xcomp	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	subject	subject	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
19	for	for	ADP	IN	_	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	even	even	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
22	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
23	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	listen	listen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	conj	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	muse	muse	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	xcomp	_	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 | **fear** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn marvel-31.3 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **not** **act** | past · do-support | I |  |  |  |  | like a person | vn masquerade-29.6-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent like person=Attribute |
| 3 | **feel** | past | a person |  |  |  |  | interested *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
| 4 | **try** | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **listen** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **begin** | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 7 | **muse** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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