---
title: Were she to find herself alone with my corpse in some desolate place… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: Were she to find herself alone with my corpse in some desolate place, she would first mourn wildly for her friend; but, this duty performed, she would proceed to ease her sorrow in the simplest way possible,—by eating him,—by cracking his bones between those long wolf’s-teeth of hers. Who acts: inco
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 7, sentence 21

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Were she to find herself alone with my corpse in some desolate place, she would first mourn wildly for her friend; but, this duty performed, she would proceed to ease her sorrow in the simplest way possible,—by eating him,—by cracking his bones between those long wolf’s-teeth of hers.

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**Who acts:** incongruity, duty · **What happens:** find, desolate, mourn, perform, proceed, ease · **To what, where:** incongruity, place, sorrow, simplest way, duty, bones

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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 (incongruity, duty), 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:pg8128:9:21
# text = Were she to find herself alone with my corpse in some desolate place, she would first mourn wildly for her friend; but, this duty performed, she would proceed to ease her sorrow in the simplest way possible,—by eating him,—by cracking his bones between those long wolf’s-teeth of hers.
1	Were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	4	obj	_	_
6	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	corpse	corpse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	9	nmod	_	_
12	desolate	desolate	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	nmod	_	_
13	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
16	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
17	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	18	advmod	_	_
18	mourn	mourn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	conj	_	_
19	wildly	wildly	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
20	for	for	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
24	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
26	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	27	det	_	_
27	duty	duty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
28	performed	perform	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
31	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	proceed	proceed	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	conj	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
34	ease	ease	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	xcomp	_	_
35	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
36	sorrow	sorrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	_
37	in	in	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
39	simplest	simple	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	40	amod	_	_
40	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
41	possible	possible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	45	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
45	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	32	advcl	_	_
46	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	50	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	50	mark	_	_
50	cracking	crack	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	45	conj	_	_
51	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	52	nmod:poss	_	_
52	bones	bone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	50	obj	_	_
53	between	between	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
54	those	that	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	56	det	_	_
55	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	56	amod	_	_
56	wolf’s	wolf'	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	50	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	-	-	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	56	appos	_	_
59	of	of	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
60	hers	her	PRON	PRP	Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	58	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **find** | past | incongruity | incongruity |  |  |  | with my corpse in some; alone *property* | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent herself=Topic |
| 2 | **desolate** | infinitive |  | place |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **mourn** | would | incongruity |  |  |  |  | for incongruity's friend; first, wildly *property* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer for friend=Attribute |
| 4 | **perform** | past | this duty |  |  |  |  |  | vn performance-26.7 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **proceed** | would | incongruity |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **ease** | to-infinitive | incongruity *not said here* | incongruity's sorrow |  | the simplest way |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent sorrow=Patient |
| 7 | **eat** | gerund | incongruity *not said here* | duty |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient |
| 8 | **crack** | gerund | incongruity *not said here* | duty's bones |  |  |  | between that long wolf’s | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location bone=Theme |
| 9 | **sorrow** |  | incongruity |  |  |  |  |  | nom sorrow «feeling intransitive»: 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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