---
title: “If the woman be a ghost,”—said Yusai to the frightened servant, “—i… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: “If the woman be a ghost,”—said Yusai to the frightened servant, “—if the woman be a ghost, your master must die very soon,—unless something extraordinary can be done to save him. Who acts: Yusai, woman, master. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Names of Incense Used., part 4, with
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 4, sentence 24

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“If the woman be a ghost,”—said Yusai to the frightened servant, “—if the woman be a ghost, your master must die very soon,—unless something extraordinary can be done to save him.

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**Who acts:** Yusai, woman, master · **What happens:** be, say, die, do, save · **To what, where:** ghost, frightened servant, something, master · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Yusai, woman, master), 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:pg8128:6:24
# text = “If the woman be a ghost,”—said Yusai to the frightened servant, “—if the woman be a ghost, your master must die very soon,—unless something extraordinary can be done to save him.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	cop	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	ghost	ghost	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	Yusai	Yusai	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	frightened	frightened	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
18	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
23	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	cop	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	ghost	ghost	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
27	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nsubj	_	_
29	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	die	die	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	parataxis	_	_
31	very	very	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	30	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	40	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	unless	unless	SCONJ	IN	_	40	mark	_	_
36	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	40	nsubj	_	_
37	extraordinary	extraordinary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
38	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	40	aux	_	_
39	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	aux:pass	_	_
40	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	parataxis	_	_
41	to	to	PART	TO	_	42	mark	_	_
42	save	save	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	advcl	_	_
43	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | a ghost |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Yusai |  | the frightened servant |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to servant=Recipient |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | infinitive | the woman | a ghost |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **die** *in a quote* | must | your master |  |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 5 | **do** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | can · passive |  | something |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |
| 6 | **save** *in a quote* | to-infinitive |  | master |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |

<!-- .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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