---
title: But I was able to prevent her from cutting off her hair; and I persu… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: But I was able to prevent her from cutting off her hair; and I persuaded her at last to become a nun only in her heart. Who acts: I. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Names of Incense Used., part 3, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 3, sentence 106

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But I was able to prevent her from cutting off her hair; and I persuaded her at last to become a nun only in her heart.

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**Who acts:** I · **What happens:** be, prevent, cut off, persuade, become · **To what, where:** mistress, hair, last, nun

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This is a sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Names of Incense Used., part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I), 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:pg8128:5:107
# text = But I was able to prevent her from cutting off her hair; and I persuaded her at last to become a nun only in her heart.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	prevent	prevent	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
9	cutting	cut	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
10	off	off	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
15	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	persuaded	persuade	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
17	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	_
18	at	at	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	obl	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	advcl	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	nun	nun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	xcomp	_	_
24	only	only	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | I |  |  |  |  | able *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **prevent** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | mistress |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer she=Theme |
| 3 | **cut off** | gerund | I *not said here* | mistress's hair |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector hair=Eventuality |
| 4 | **persuade** | past | I | mistress |  | last |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Patient |
| 5 | **become** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | a nun in mistress's heart |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |

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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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