---
title: [2] Perhaps this conversation may seem strange to the Western reader… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: [2] Perhaps this conversation may seem strange to the Western reader; but it is true to life. Who acts: conversation. 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.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/5/55/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [In Ghostly Japan](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/) / [Names of Incense Used., part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/5/) / 55

# In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 3, sentence 55

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
\[2\] Perhaps this conversation may seem strange to the Western reader; but it is true to life.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** conversation · **What happens:** seem, be

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (conversation), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg8128:5:56
# text = [2] Perhaps this conversation may seem strange to the Western reader; but it is true to life.
1	[	[	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	2	2	NUM	LS	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	8	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	]	]	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	2	punct	_	_
4	Perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
5	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	det	_	_
6	conversation	conversation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
7	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	seem	seem	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
9	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	xcomp	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	Western	western	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	reader	reader	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
18	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	parataxis	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | may | this conversation |  |  |  |  | 2 *discourse*; perhaps, strange *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | present | conversation |  |  |  |  | to life; true *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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 54](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/5/54/)
- next →: [sentence 56](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/5/56/)
- ↑ back to [Names of Incense Used., part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/5/)