---
title: But other dogs know what it means, and make answer over the miles of… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: But other dogs know what it means, and make answer over the miles of the night,—sometimes from so far away that only by straining my hearing to the uttermost can I detect the faint response. Who acts: other dogs, thing, I, my. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Names of Incense Used
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 7, sentence 25

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But other dogs know what it means, and make answer over the miles of the night,—sometimes from so far away that only by straining my hearing to the uttermost can I detect the faint response.

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**Who acts:** other dogs, thing, I, my · **What happens:** know, mean, make, strain, detect, hear · **To what, where:** answer, hearing, faint response · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (other dogs, thing, I, my), 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:pg8128:9:25
# text = But other dogs know what it means, and make answer over the miles of the night,—sometimes from so far away that only by straining my hearing to the uttermost can I detect the faint response.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	7	obj	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
11	answer	answer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
12	over	over	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	miles	mile	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	24	advmod	_	_
21	from	from	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	so	so	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	24	advmod	_	_
24	away	away	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
25	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
26	only	only	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
27	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
28	straining	strain	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	36	csubj	_	_
29	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	hearing	hearing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
31	to	to	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	uttermost	uttermost	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
34	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
35	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
36	detect	detect	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	advcl	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
38	faint	faint	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	response	response	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | present | other dogs |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **mean** | present | thing |  |  |  |  | what *obj* | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic |
| 3 | **make** | infinitive | thing *not said here* | answer |  |  |  | over the miles of the night; away *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset answer=Product |
| 4 | **strain** | gerund |  | my hearing |  |  |  | to the uttermost | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent hearing=Source |
| 5 | **detect** | can | I | the faint response |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer response=Stimulus |
| 6 | **hear** |  | my |  |  |  |  |  | nom hearing «act intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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