In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 1, sentence 73
They are the ghosts of men who anciently, for the sake of gain, made or sold bad incense; and by the evil karma of that action they now find themselves in the state of hunger-suffering spirits, and compelled to seek their only food in the smoke of incense.
Who acts: powers, incense · What happens: be, make, sell, find, compel, seek · To what, where: ghosts, sake, bad incense, powers, state, only food
This is a sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Names of Incense Used., part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (powers, incense), 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 | They | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 ghosts | nsubj |
| 2 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 ghosts | cop |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 ghosts | det |
| 4 | ghosts | ghost | NOUN | Number=Plur | root | root |
| 5 | of | of | ADP | _ | 6 men | case |
| 6 | men | man | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 ghosts | nmod |
| 7 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 6 men | acl:relcl |
| 8 | anciently | anciently | ADV | _ | 7 who | advmod |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 sake | punct |
| 10 | for | for | ADP | _ | 12 sake | case |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 sake | det |
| 12 | sake | sake | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 ghosts | conj |
| 13 | of | of | ADP | _ | 14 gain | case |
| 14 | gain | gain | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 sake | nmod |
| 15 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 made | punct |
| 16 | made | make | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 12 sake | acl |
| 17 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 18 sold | cc |
| 18 | sold | sell | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 16 made | conj |
| 19 | bad | bad | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 20 incense | amod |
| 20 | incense | incense | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 sold | obj |
| 21 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 32 find | punct |
| 22 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 32 find | cc |
| 23 | by | by | ADP | _ | 26 karma | case |
| 24 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 26 karma | det |
| 25 | evil | evil | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 26 karma | amod |
| 26 | karma | karma | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 find | obl |
| 27 | of | of | ADP | _ | 29 action | case |
| 28 | that | that | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 29 action | det |
| 29 | action | action | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 karma | nmod |
| 30 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 32 find | nsubj |
| 31 | now | now | ADV | PronType=Dem | 32 find | advmod |
| 32 | find | find | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 ghosts | parataxis |
| 33 | themselves | themselves | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 32 find | obj |
| 34 | in | in | ADP | _ | 36 state | case |
| 35 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 36 state | det |
| 36 | state | state | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 find | obl |
| 37 | of | of | ADP | _ | 41 spirits | case |
| 38 | hunger | hunger | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 suffering | compound |
| 39 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 38 hunger | punct |
| 40 | suffering | suffering | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 spirits | compound |
| 41 | spirits | spirit | NOUN | Number=Plur | 36 state | nmod |
| 42 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 44 compelled | punct |
| 43 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 44 compelled | cc |
| 44 | compelled | compel | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 4 ghosts | conj |
| 45 | to | to | PART | _ | 46 seek | mark |
| 46 | seek | seek | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 44 compelled | xcomp |
| 47 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 49 food | nmod:poss |
| 48 | only | only | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 49 food | amod |
| 49 | food | food | NOUN | Number=Sing | 46 seek | obj |
| 50 | in | in | ADP | _ | 52 smoke | case |
| 51 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 52 smoke | det |
| 52 | smoke | smoke | NOUN | Number=Sing | 46 seek | obl |
| 53 | of | of | ADP | _ | 54 incense | case |
| 54 | incense | incense | NOUN | Number=Sing | 52 smoke | nmod |
| 55 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 ghosts | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | present | powers = power | the ghosts and the sake of gain | of men the ghosts and the sake of gain; the sake of gain conj | tree rules | |||
| 2 | make | participle | the sake of gain not said here | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset | |||||
| 3 | sell | participle | bad incense | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent incense=Theme | |||||
| 4 | find | present | powers = power | powers = power | the state of suffering spirits | now | by the evil karma of that action | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent themselves=Topic | |
| 5 | compel | participle | powers = power not said here | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Result | |||||
| 6 | seek | to-infinitive | powers = power not said here | powers's only food | the smoke of incense | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent food=Theme in smoke=Location | |||
| 7 | smoke | incense | nom smoke «phenomenon 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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/3/73/