---
title: However poorly the upper classes of such a people might compare with… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: However poorly the upper classes of such a people might compare with those of other nations, we could scarcely doubt that its lower classes were morally and otherwise in advance of our own lower classes. Who acts: upper classes, we, lower classes, own lower classes. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» 
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/9/96/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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/) / 96

# In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 7, sentence 96

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
However poorly the upper classes of such a people might compare with those of other nations, we could scarcely doubt that its lower classes were morally and otherwise in advance of our own lower classes.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** upper classes, we, lower classes, own lower classes · **What happens:** compare, doubt, be, advance · **To what, where:** advance

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (upper classes, we, lower classes, own lower classes), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg8128:9:96
# text = However poorly the upper classes of such a people might compare with those of other nations, we could scarcely doubt that its lower classes were morally and otherwise in advance of our own lower classes.
1	However	however	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	poorly	poorly	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	upper	upper	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	classes	class	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	9	det:predet	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	_
10	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	compare	compare	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
12	with	with	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	those	that	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	11	obl	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	nations	nation	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
18	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
19	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	scarcely	scarcely	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	doubt	doubt	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	conj	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
23	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
24	lower	low	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	25	amod	_	_
25	classes	class	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	nsubj	_	_
26	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
27	morally	morally	ADV	RB	_	21	advcl	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	otherwise	otherwise	ADV	RB	_	27	conj	_	_
30	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	advance	advance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
33	our	our	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
34	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
35	lower	low	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	36	amod	_	_
36	classes	class	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **compare** | might | the upper classes of such people |  |  |  |  | with those of other nations; poorly *property* | vn amalgamate-22.2-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Patient with that=Co-Patient |
| 2 | **doubt** | could | we |  |  | advance of our own lower classes |  | scarcely *property* | vn judgment-33.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | past | utterance's lower classes |  |  |  |  | morally *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **advance** |  | our own lower classes |  |  |  |  |  | nom advance «event intransitive»: of=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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 95](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/9/95/)
- next →: [sentence 97](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/9/97/)
- ↑ back to [Names of Incense Used., part 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/9/)