---
title: Yet if the gods were to treat us as we want, we should presently aff… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: Yet if the gods were to treat us as we want, we should presently afford fresh evidence,—in the way of what is called “the evidence from degeneration,”—that the great evolutional law is far above the gods. Who acts: gods, we, great evolutional law. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, 
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 2, sentence 72

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Yet if the gods were to treat us as we want, we should presently afford fresh evidence,—in the way of what is called “the evidence from degeneration,”—that the great evolutional law is far above the gods.

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**Who acts:** gods, we, great evolutional law · **What happens:** treat, want, afford, call, be · **To what, where:** us, fresh evidence, way · **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 (gods, we, great evolutional law), 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:pg8128:4:72
# text = Yet if the gods were to treat us as we want, we should presently afford fresh evidence,—in the way of what is called “the evidence from degeneration,”—that the great evolutional law is far above the gods.
1	Yet	yet	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
2	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	gods	god	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
5	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	treat	treat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	_
9	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
10	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	want	want	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
13	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
14	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
15	presently	presently	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	afford	afford	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	parataxis	_	_
17	fresh	fresh	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	evidence	evidence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	appos	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	27	nsubj:pass	_	_
26	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux:pass	_	_
27	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	acl:relcl	_	_
28	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	30	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	evidence	evidence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	xcomp	_	_
31	from	from	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	degeneration	degeneration	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	45	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
38	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
39	evolutional	evolutional	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
40	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nsubj	_	_
41	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	45	cop	_	_
42	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	45	advmod	_	_
43	above	above	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	gods	god	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **treat** | past | the gods |  | us |  |  |  | vn equip-13.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent we=Recipient |
| 2 | **want** | present | we |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 3 | **afford** | should | we | fresh evidence |  |  |  | presently *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **call** | present · passive |  | the way |  |  |  | the evidence from degeneration *xcomp* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |
| 5 | **is** | present | the great evolutional law |  |  |  |  | above the gods; far *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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