---
title: Even before the brief visit was over, they contrived,—unheard by the… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: Even before the brief visit was over, they contrived,—unheard by the old doctor,—to pledge themselves to each other for life. Who acts: brief visit, people. 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 19

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Even before the brief visit was over, they contrived,—unheard by the old doctor,—to pledge themselves to each other for life.

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**Who acts:** brief visit, people · **What happens:** be, contrive, pledge · **To what, where:** people, each

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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 (brief visit, people), 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:pg8128:5:19
# text = Even before the brief visit was over, they contrived,—unheard by the old doctor,—to pledge themselves to each other for life.
1	Even	even	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
2	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	brief	brief	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	visit	visit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	over	over	ADV	RB	_	10	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	contrived	contrive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	unheard	unheard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	parataxis	_	_
14	by	by	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	doctor	doctor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	21	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	pledge	pledge	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	13	parataxis	_	_
22	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	21	obj	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	21	obl	_	_
25	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	fixed	_	_
26	for	for	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the brief visit |  |  |  |  | over *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **contrive** | past | people |  |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **pledge** | to-infinitive |  | people |  |  |  | to each *goal*; for life | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent themselves=Theme to each=Goal |

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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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