In Ghostly Japan, Opening, sentence 193

The backs only of these tablets are decorated; and the decoration is nearly always a floral design of some sort:—thus one set might be decorated with chrysanthemums in gold, another with tufts of iris-plants, another with a spray of plum-blossoms, etc. But the faces of the tablets bear numbers or marks; and each set comprises three tablets numbered “1,” three numbered “2,” three numbered “3,” and one marked with the character signifying “guest.”

Who acts: decoration, set, three tablets, character · What happens: decorate, be, bear, comprise, number, mark · To what, where: backs, floral design, one set, gold, numbers, three tablets

This is a sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Opening. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (decoration, set, three tablets, character), 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

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 backs	det
2	backs	back	NOUN	Number=Plur	8 decorated	nsubj:pass
3	only	only	ADV	_	6 tablets	advmod
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 tablets	case
5	these	this	DET	Number=Plur PronType=Dem	6 tablets	det
6	tablets	tablet	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 backs	nmod
7	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 decorated	aux:pass
8	decorated	decorate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
9	;	;	PUNCT	_	18 design	punct
10	and	and	CCONJ	_	18 design	cc
11	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	12 decoration	det
12	decoration	decoration	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 design	nsubj
13	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	18 design	cop
14	nearly	nearly	ADV	_	15 always	advmod
15	always	always	ADV	PronType=Tot	18 design	advmod
16	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	18 design	det
17	floral	floral	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 design	amod
18	design	design	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 decorated	obl
19	of	of	ADP	_	21 sort	case
20	some	some	DET	PronType=Ind	21 sort	det
21	sort	sort	NOUN	Number=Sing	18 design	nmod
22	:	:	PUNCT	_	8 decorated	punct
23	—	-	PUNCT	_	29 decorated	punct
24	thus	thus	ADV	_	29 decorated	advmod
25	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	26 set	nummod
26	set	set	NOUN	Number=Sing	29 decorated	nsubj:pass
27	might	might	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	29 decorated	aux
28	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	29 decorated	aux:pass
29	decorated	decorate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	8 decorated	conj
30	with	with	ADP	_	31 chrysanthemums	case
31	chrysanthemums	chrysanthemum	NOUN	Number=Plur	29 decorated	obl
32	in	in	ADP	_	33 gold	case
33	gold	gold	NOUN	Number=Sing	29 decorated	obl
34	,	,	PUNCT	_	35 another	punct
35	another	another	DET	PronType=Ind	29 decorated	conj
36	with	with	ADP	_	37 tufts	case
37	tufts	tuft	NOUN	Number=Plur	29 decorated	obl
38	of	of	ADP	_	41 plants	case
39	iris	iris	NOUN	Number=Sing	41 plants	compound
40	-	-	PUNCT	_	39 iris	punct
41	plants	plant	NOUN	Number=Plur	37 tufts	nmod
42	,	,	PUNCT	_	43 another	punct
43	another	another	DET	PronType=Ind	41 plants	nmod
44	with	with	ADP	_	46 spray	case
45	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	46 spray	det
46	spray	spray	NOUN	Number=Sing	59 bear	obl
47	of	of	ADP	_	50 blossoms	case
48	plum	plum	NOUN	Number=Sing	50 blossoms	compound
49	-	-	PUNCT	_	48 plum	punct
50	blossoms	blossom	NOUN	Number=Plur	46 spray	nmod
51	,	,	PUNCT	_	52 etc.	punct
52	etc.	etc.	NOUN	Abbr=Yes Number=Plur	50 blossoms	conj
53	But	but	CCONJ	_	55 faces	cc
54	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	55 faces	det
55	faces	face	NOUN	Number=Plur	50 blossoms	conj
56	of	of	ADP	_	58 tablets	case
57	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	58 tablets	det
58	tablets	tablet	NOUN	Number=Plur	55 faces	nmod
59	bear	bear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	43 another	acl
60	numbers	number	NOUN	Number=Plur	59 bear	obj
61	or	or	CCONJ	_	62 marks	cc
62	marks	mark	NOUN	Number=Plur	60 numbers	conj
63	;	;	PUNCT	_	67 comprises	punct
64	and	and	CCONJ	_	67 comprises	cc
65	each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	66 set	det
66	set	set	NOUN	Number=Sing	67 comprises	nsubj
67	comprises	comprise	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 decorated	conj
68	three	three	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	69 tablets	nummod
69	tablets	tablet	NOUN	Number=Plur	67 comprises	obj
70	numbered	number	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	69 tablets	acl
71	“	"	PUNCT	_	72 1	punct
72	1	1	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	70 numbered	obl
73	,	,	PUNCT	_	72 1	punct
74	”	"	PUNCT	_	67 comprises	punct
75	three	three	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	67 comprises	obl
76	numbered	number	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	75 three	acl
77	“	"	PUNCT	_	78 2	punct
78	2	2	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	76 numbered	obl
79	,	,	PUNCT	_	78 2	punct
80	”	"	PUNCT	_	78 2	punct
81	three	three	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	78 2	nmod
82	numbered	number	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	81 three	acl
83	“	"	PUNCT	_	84 3	punct
84	3	3	NUM	NumForm=Digit NumType=Card	82 numbered	obl
85	,	,	PUNCT	_	84 3	punct
86	”	"	PUNCT	_	84 3	punct
87	and	and	CCONJ	_	88 one	cc
88	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	84 3	nmod
89	marked	mark	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	88 one	acl
90	with	with	ADP	_	92 character	case
91	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	92 character	det
92	character	character	NOUN	Number=Sing	89 marked	obl
93	signifying	signify	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	92 character	acl
94	“	"	PUNCT	_	95 guest	punct
95	guest	guest	NOUN	Number=Sing	93 signifying	obj
96	.	.	PUNCT	_	8 decorated	punct
97	”	"	PUNCT	_	8 decorated	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	decorate	present · passive		the backs of this tablets			vn illustrate-25.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Destination
2	is a	present	the decoration	a floral design		of some sort; always property	tree rules
3	decorate	might · passive		one set	gold	with chrysanthemums; with tufts of iris plants another; thus property	vn illustrate-25.3 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Destination with chrysanthemum=Theme
4	bear	present		numbers or marks		with a spray of plum blossoms and etc. but the faces of the tablets	vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent number=Patient
5	comprise	present	each set	three tablets		three obl	vn comprise-107.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme tablet=Pivot
6	number	participle	three tablets not said here	1			vn classify-29.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
7	number	participle		2 three			vn classify-29.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
8	number	participle		3 one			vn classify-29.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
9	mark	participle				with the character	vn image_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.destination PP.theme»: agent=Agent with character=Theme
10	signify	gerund	the character not said here	guest			vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot guest=Theme

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.

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🌲 In Ghostly Japan, Opening, sentence 193

The tree

Pragmatics

In Ghostly Japan, Opening, sentence 193