---
title: But if they were able to pray, they could not ask for anything more… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: But if they were able to pray, they could not ask for anything more than they already receive from the youth who feeds and tends them. Who acts: worms, youth. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Names of Incense Used., part 2, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clau
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 2, sentence 67

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But if they were able to pray, they could not ask for anything more than they already receive from the youth who feeds and tends them.

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**Who acts:** worms, youth · **What happens:** be, pray, not ask, receive, feed, tend · **To what, where:** youth, worms

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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 (worms, youth), 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:pg8128:4:67
# text = But if they were able to pray, they could not ask for anything more than they already receive from the youth who feeds and tends them.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
2	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	advcl	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	pray	pray	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
10	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
13	for	for	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	12	obl	_	_
15	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	14	amod	_	_
16	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
17	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	already	already	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	receive	receive	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	advcl	_	_
20	from	from	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	youth	youth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
23	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	24	nsubj	_	_
24	feeds	feed	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	acl:relcl	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	tends	tend	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	conj	_	_
27	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | worms *= worm* |  |  |  |  | able *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **pray** | to-infinitive | worms *= worm* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 3 | **not** **ask** *speech: ask* | could | worms *= worm* |  |  |  |  | for anything | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **receive** | present | worms *= worm* |  |  | the youth |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent from youth=Source |
| 5 | **feed** | present | the youth |  |  |  |  |  | vn gorge-39.6 «NP V PP.patient»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **tend** | present | the youth *not said here* | worms *= worm* |  |  |  |  | vn caring-75.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |

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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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