---
title: She had guarded the place, I was told, for a long succession of prio… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: She had guarded the place, I was told, for a long succession of prior tenants—apparently with no better reason than that she had been born in the woodshed at the back of the house. Who acts: West. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Names of Incense Used., part 6, with its dependency
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 6, sentence 120

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She had guarded the place, I was told, for a long succession of prior tenants—apparently with no better reason than that she had been born in the woodshed at the back of the house.

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**Who acts:** West · **What happens:** guard, tell, bear · **To what, where:** place, I, West, woodshed · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Names of Incense Used., part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (West), 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:pg8128:8:121
# text = She had guarded the place, I was told, for a long succession of prior tenants—apparently with no better reason than that she had been born in the woodshed at the back of the house.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	guarded	guard	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	for	for	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	succession	succession	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	conj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	prior	prior	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	tenants	tenant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	apparently	apparently	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
20	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	23	det	_	_
22	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	23	amod	_	_
23	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	parataxis	_	_
24	than	than	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	23	nmod	_	_
26	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj:pass	_	_
27	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
28	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	29	aux:pass	_	_
29	born	bear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	parataxis	_	_
30	in	in	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	woodshed	woodshed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
33	at	at	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **guard** | past · perfect | West | the place |  |  |  | no better reason than that *parataxis* | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent place=Beneficiary |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past · passive |  | I |  |  |  | a long succession of prior tenants *conj* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |
| 3 | **bear** | past · perfect · passive |  | West |  | the woodshed |  | at the back of the house | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=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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