In Ghostly Japan, Opening, sentence 195
The incense-burner retires behind a little screen, shuffles the flat packages like so many cards, takes the uppermost, prepares its contents in the censer, and then, returning to the party, sends the censer upon its round.
Who acts: incense burner · What happens: retire, shuffle, take, prepare, return, send · To what, where: little screen, flat packages, uppermost, contents, censer
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 (incense burner), 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 | 4 burner | det |
| 2 | incense | incense | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 burner | compound |
| 3 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 2 incense | punct |
| 4 | burner | burner | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 retires | nsubj |
| 5 | retires | retire | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | behind | behind | ADP | _ | 9 screen | case |
| 7 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 9 screen | det |
| 8 | little | little | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 9 screen | amod |
| 9 | screen | screen | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 retires | obl |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 shuffles | punct |
| 11 | shuffles | shuffle | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 retires | conj |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 packages | det |
| 13 | flat | flat | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 14 packages | amod |
| 14 | packages | package | NOUN | Number=Plur | 11 shuffles | obj |
| 15 | like | like | ADP | _ | 18 cards | case |
| 16 | so | so | ADV | _ | 17 many | advmod |
| 17 | many | many | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 18 cards | amod |
| 18 | cards | card | NOUN | Number=Plur | 14 packages | nmod |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 takes | punct |
| 20 | takes | take | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 retires | parataxis |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 22 uppermost | det |
| 22 | uppermost | uppermost | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 20 takes | obj |
| 23 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 24 prepares | punct |
| 24 | prepares | prepare | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 20 takes | conj |
| 25 | its | its | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 26 contents | nmod:poss |
| 26 | contents | contents | NOUN | Number=Ptan | 24 prepares | obj |
| 27 | in | in | ADP | _ | 29 censer | case |
| 28 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 29 censer | det |
| 29 | censer | censer | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 prepares | obl |
| 30 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 returning | punct |
| 31 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 34 returning | cc |
| 32 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 34 returning | advmod |
| 33 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 returning | punct |
| 34 | returning | return | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 5 retires | conj |
| 35 | to | to | ADP | _ | 37 party | case |
| 36 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 37 party | det |
| 37 | party | party | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 returning | obl |
| 38 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 39 sends | punct |
| 39 | sends | send | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 retires | conj |
| 40 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 41 censer | det |
| 41 | censer | censer | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 sends | obj |
| 42 | upon | upon | ADP | _ | 44 round | case |
| 43 | its | its | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 44 round | nmod:poss |
| 44 | round | round | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 sends | obl |
| 45 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 retires | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | retire | present | the incense burner | a little screen | vn resign-10.11-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 2 | shuffle | present | the incense burner not said here | the flat packages | like many cards | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent package=Patient | |||
| 3 | take | present | the uppermost | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent uppermost=Theme | |||||
| 4 | prepare | present | burner's contents | the censer | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent contents=Patient | ||||
| 5 | return | gerund | the incense burner not said here | then | to the party result | vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Patient to party=Result | |||
| 6 | send | present | the incense burner not said here | the censer | upon burner's round | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent censer=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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/1/195/