---
title: For a long time he chanted the words, comprehending little of their… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: For a long time he chanted the words, comprehending little of their meaning;—then he tried to obtain some rest. Who acts: _, words. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Names of Incense Used., part 4, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 4, sentence 108

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For a long time he chanted the words, comprehending little of their meaning;—then he tried to obtain some rest.

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**Who acts:** \_, words · **What happens:** chant, comprehend, try, obtain, mean · **To what, where:** words, little, rest

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This is a sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Names of Incense Used., part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (\_, words), 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:pg8128:6:109
# text = For a long time he chanted the words, comprehending little of their meaning;—then he tried to obtain some rest.
1	For	for	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	chanted	chant	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	comprehending	comprehend	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
11	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	obj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	meaning	meaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	19	advmod	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	obtain	obtain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	xcomp	_	_
22	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	23	det	_	_
23	rest	rest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **chant** | past | \_ | the words |  |  | time |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Topic |
| 2 | **comprehend** | gerund | \_ *not said here* | little of words's meaning |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer little=Stimulus |
| 3 | **try** | past | \_ |  |  |  | then |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **obtain** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | \_ *not said here* | some rest |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset rest=Theme |
| 5 | **mean** |  | words *= word* |  |  |  |  |  | nom meaning «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

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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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