--- title: The incense-burner retires behind a little screen, shuffles the flat… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics description: 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. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/1/195/) [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/) / [Opening](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/1/) / 195 # 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 {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg8128:1:198 # text = 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. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 2 incense incense NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 3 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 2 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 4 burner burner NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ _ 5 retires retire VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 6 behind behind ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 7 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 8 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 9 amod _ _ 9 screen screen NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ _ 11 shuffles shuffle VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 13 flat flat ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 14 amod _ _ 14 packages package NOUN NNS Number=Plur 11 obj _ _ 15 like like ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 16 so so ADV RB _ 17 advmod _ _ 17 many many ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 18 amod _ _ 18 cards card NOUN NNS Number=Plur 14 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 19 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 20 takes take VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 5 parataxis _ _ 21 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 uppermost uppermost ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 24 prepares prepare VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 20 conj _ _ 25 its its PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 26 nmod:poss _ _ 26 contents contents NOUN NNS Number=Ptan 24 obj _ _ 27 in in ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 28 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 29 censer censer NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 31 and and CCONJ CC _ 34 cc _ _ 32 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 34 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 33 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 34 returning return VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 5 conj _ _ 35 to to ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 36 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 37 party party NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 38 , , PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 39 sends send VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ _ 40 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 41 censer censer NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 obj _ _ 42 upon upon ADP IN _ 44 case _ _ 43 its its PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 44 nmod:poss _ _ 44 round round NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 45 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#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. - ← previous: [sentence 194](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/1/194/) - next →: [sentence 196](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/1/196/) - ↑ back to [Opening](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/1/)