--- title: But the night-howl of the white creature in my close forces me to wo… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics description: But the night-howl of the white creature in my close forces me to wonder whether she does not _mentally_ see something really terrible,—something which we vainly try to keep out of moral consciousness: the ghoulish law of life. Who acts: night howl, evidence, we, white creature. A sentence of «In Gh --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/9/43/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [In Ghostly Japan](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/) / [Names of Incense Used., part 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/9/) / 43 # In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 7, sentence 43 But the night-howl of the white creature in my close forces me to wonder whether she does not \_mentally\_ see something really terrible,—something which we vainly try to keep out of moral consciousness: the ghoulish law of life. **Who acts:** night howl, evidence, we, white creature · **What happens:** wonder, not \_, see, try, keep out, howl · **To what, where:** something, moral consciousness · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (night howl, evidence, we, white creature), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg8128:9:43 # text = But the night-howl of the white creature in my close forces me to wonder whether she does not _mentally_ see something really terrible,—something which we vainly try to keep out of moral consciousness: the ghoulish law of life. 1 But but CCONJ CC _ 16 cc _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 3 night night NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 4 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 5 howl howl NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 nsubj _ _ 6 of of ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 8 white white ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 9 amod _ _ 9 creature creature NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nmod _ _ 10 in in ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 11 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 13 nmod:poss _ _ 12 close close ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 13 amod _ _ 13 forces force NOUN NNS Number=Plur 9 nmod _ _ 14 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 13 iobj _ _ 15 to to PART TO _ 16 mark _ _ 16 wonder wonder VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 17 whether whether SCONJ IN _ 21 mark _ _ 18 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 21 nsubj _ _ 19 does do AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 21 aux _ _ 20 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 21 advmod _ _ 21 _ _ VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 16 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 22 mentally mentally ADV RB _ 21 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 23 _ _ PUNCT NFP _ 24 punct _ _ 24 see see VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 21 conj _ _ 25 something something PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 24 obj _ _ 26 really really ADV RB _ 27 advmod _ _ 27 terrible terrible ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 25 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 29 — - PUNCT : _ 30 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 30 something something PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 25 appos _ _ 31 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 34 obj _ _ 32 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 33 vainly vainly ADV RB _ 34 advmod _ _ 34 try try VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 30 acl:relcl _ _ 35 to to PART TO _ 36 mark _ _ 36 keep keep VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 34 xcomp _ _ 37 out out ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 38 of of ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 39 moral moral ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 40 amod _ _ 40 consciousness consciousness NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 41 : : PUNCT : _ 44 punct _ _ 42 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 44 det _ _ 43 ghoulish ghoulish ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 44 amod _ _ 44 law law NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 nmod _ _ 45 of of ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 46 life life NOUN NN Number=Sing 44 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 16 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **wonder** *speech: ask* | to-infinitive | the night howl of the white creature in my close forces me | | | | | | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V what S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 2 | **not** **\_** | present · do-support | evidence | | | | | mentally *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **see** | infinitive | evidence *not said here* | something | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer something=Stimulus | | 4 | **try** | present | we | | | | | which *obj*; vainly *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **keep out** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | we *not said here* | moral consciousness the ghoulish law of life | | | | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent consciousness=Theme | | 6 | **howl** | | the white creature in my close forces me | | | | | | nom howl «communication intransitive»: of=agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 42](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/9/42/) - next →: [sentence 44](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/9/44/) - ↑ back to [Names of Incense Used., part 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/9/)