---
title: They tell us that during its sentient existence, the outer body shou… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: They tell us that during its sentient existence, the outer body should be thought of only as a kind of caterpillar, and thereafter as a chrysalis;—and they aver that we lose or gain, according to our behavior as larvæ, the power to develop wings under the mortal wrapping. Who acts: faiths, sentient 
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 2, sentence 52

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They tell us that during its sentient existence, the outer body should be thought of only as a kind of caterpillar, and thereafter as a chrysalis;—and they aver that we lose or gain, according to our behavior as larvæ, the power to develop wings under the mortal wrapping.

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**Who acts:** faiths, sentient existence, we, light · **What happens:** tell, think, aver, lose, gain, accord · **To what, where:** us, outer body, wings, mortal wrapping · **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 (faiths, sentient existence, we, light), 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:pg8128:4:52
# text = They tell us that during its sentient existence, the outer body should be thought of only as a kind of caterpillar, and thereafter as a chrysalis;—and they aver that we lose or gain, according to our behavior as larvæ, the power to develop wings under the mortal wrapping.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	tell	tell	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	iobj	_	_
4	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	nmod:unmarked	_	_
5	during	during	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
7	sentient	sentient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	existence	existence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	outer	outer	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	aux:pass	_	_
15	thought	think	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	acl:relcl	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
17	only	only	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
18	as	as	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	kind	kind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	caterpillar	caterpillar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	thereafter	thereafter	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
26	as	as	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	chrysalis	chrysalis	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	33	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
32	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	aver	aver	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
34	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
35	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
36	lose	lose	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	advcl	_	_
37	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
38	gain	gain	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	36	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
40	according	accord	VERB	VBG	ExtPos=ADP|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	43	case	_	_
41	to	to	ADP	IN	_	40	fixed	_	_
42	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	43	nmod:poss	_	_
43	behavior	behavior	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	parataxis	_	_
44	as	as	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	larvæ	larvæ	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	power	power	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	conj	_	_
49	to	to	PART	TO	_	50	mark	_	_
50	develop	develop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	acl	_	_
51	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	50	obj	_	_
52	under	under	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
54	mortal	mortal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	55	amod	_	_
55	wrapping	wrapping	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present | faiths *= faith* |  | us |  | during light's sentient existence | thereafter *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent we=Recipient |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | should · passive | light's sentient existence *not said here* | the outer body |  |  |  | of a kind of caterpillar | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 3 | **aver** | present | faiths *= faith* |  |  |  |  | our behavior as larvæ and the power *parataxis* | tree rules |
| 4 | **lose** | present | we |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **gain** | present | we *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 6 | **accord** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **develop** | to-infinitive | faiths *= faith* *not said here* | wings |  | the mortal wrapping |  |  | vn build-26.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wing=Product |
| 8 | **exist** |  | light |  |  |  |  |  | nom existence «state intransitive»: poss=agent |

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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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