---
title: It is incomparably weirder than the howl of any European dog; and I… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: It is incomparably weirder than the howl of any European dog; and I fancy that it is incomparably older. Who acts: howl, I, European dog. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Names of Incense Used., part 7, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 7, sentence 12

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It is incomparably weirder than the howl of any European dog; and I fancy that it is incomparably older.

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**Who acts:** howl, I, European dog · **What happens:** be, fancy, howl

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This is a sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Names of Incense Used., part 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (howl, I, European dog), 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:pg8128:9:12
# text = It is incomparably weirder than the howl of any European dog; and I fancy that it is incomparably older.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	incomparably	incomparably	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	weirder	weird	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
5	than	than	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	howl	howl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	11	det	_	_
10	European	European	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	fancy	fancy	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
16	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
18	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
19	incomparably	incomparably	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	older	old	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	15	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | howl |  |  |  |  | than the howl of any European dog; incomparably, weird *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **fancy** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **is** | present | howl |  |  |  |  | incomparably, old *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **howl** |  | any European dog |  |  |  |  |  | nom howl «communication intransitive»: of=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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