---
title: Then it occurred to me that this fantasy was in substance scarcely m… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: Then it occurred to me that this fantasy was in substance scarcely more than the delicate modification of a most ancient doctrine, common to nearly all the higher forms of religion. Who acts: human, fantasy. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Names of Incense Used., part 2, with its
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 2, sentence 50

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Then it occurred to me that this fantasy was in substance scarcely more than the delicate modification of a most ancient doctrine, common to nearly all the higher forms of religion.

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**Who acts:** human, fantasy · **What happens:** occur, be, modify, form · **To what, where:** me, substance, ancient doctrine, religion

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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 (human, fantasy), 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:pg8128:4:50
# text = Then it occurred to me that this fantasy was in substance scarcely more than the delicate modification of a most ancient doctrine, common to nearly all the higher forms of religion.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	occurred	occur	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	obl	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
7	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	8	det	_	_
8	fantasy	fantasy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	substance	substance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	advcl	_	_
12	scarcely	scarcely	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	3	advmod	_	_
14	than	than	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	delicate	delicate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	modification	modification	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
20	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	21	advmod	_	_
21	ancient	ancient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	doctrine	doctrine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
24	common	common	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	parataxis	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
26	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	30	det:predet	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	higher	high	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	30	amod	_	_
30	forms	form	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nsubj	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	religion	religion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **occur** | past | human |  | me |  | then |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | this fantasy |  |  | substance |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **modify** |  |  | a ancient doctrine |  |  |  |  | nom modification «act transitive»: of=patient |
| 4 | **form** |  |  | religion |  |  |  |  | nom form «communication transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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