---
title: _’ In ancient times there were men of superior wisdom and virtue who… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: _’ In ancient times there were men of superior wisdom and virtue who, by reason of their vow, obtained perception of the odor; but we, who are born with inferior wisdom and virtue in these later days, cannot obtain such perception. Who acts: men. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, O
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Opening, sentence 159

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\_’ In ancient times there were men of superior wisdom and virtue who, by reason of their vow, obtained perception of the odor; but we, who are born with inferior wisdom and virtue in these later days, cannot obtain such perception.

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**Who acts:** men · **What happens:** obtain, bear, not obtain, vow, perceive · **To what, where:** we, such perception, odor

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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 (men), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg8128:1:162
# text = _’ In ancient times there were men of superior wisdom and virtue who, by reason of their vow, obtained perception of the odor; but we, who are born with inferior wisdom and virtue in these later days, cannot obtain such perception.
1	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	’	'	PUNCT	NFP	_	0	root	_	_
3	In	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	ancient	ancient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
6	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	7	expl	_	_
7	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
8	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	superior	superior	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	wisdom	wisdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	virtue	virtue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	_
14	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	13	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	by	by	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	reason	reason	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	vow	vow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	obtained	obtain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	amod	_	_
23	perception	perception	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	appos	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	odor	odor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
28	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
29	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj:pass	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	33	nsubj:pass	_	_
32	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux:pass	_	_
33	born	bear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	conj	_	_
34	with	with	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	inferior	inferior	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	wisdom	wisdom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
38	virtue	virtue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	conj	_	_
39	in	in	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
40	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	42	det	_	_
41	later	late	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	42	amod	_	_
42	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
44	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	46	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	46	advmod	_	_
46	obtain	obtain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	conj	_	_
47	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	amod	_	_
48	perception	perception	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **obtain** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |
| 2 | **bear** | present · passive |  | we |  |  |  | with inferior wisdom and virtue in this later days; who *nsubj:pass* | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 3 | **not** **obtain** | can |  | such perception |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset perception=Theme |
| 4 | **vow** |  | men *= man* |  |  |  |  |  | nom vow «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
| 5 | **perceive** |  |  | the odor |  |  |  |  | nom perception «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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.

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**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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