---
title: The first curious fact is that, from very ancient times, the writing… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: The first curious fact is that, from very ancient times, the writing of short poems has been practised in Japan even more as a moral duty than as a mere literary art. Who acts: first curious fact. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Names of Incense Used., part 8, with its dependency
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 8, sentence 6

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The first curious fact is that, from very ancient times, the writing of short poems has been practised in Japan even more as a moral duty than as a mere literary art.

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**Who acts:** first curious fact · **What happens:** be, practise, write · **To what, where:** first curious fact, writing, Japan, short poems

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This is a sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Names of Incense Used., part 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (first curious fact), 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:pg8128:10:6
# text = The first curious fact is that, from very ancient times, the writing of short poems has been practised in Japan even more as a moral duty than as a mere literary art.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	4	amod	_	_
3	curious	curious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	fact	fact	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	from	from	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	very	very	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	ancient	ancient	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	writing	writing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj:pass	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	poems	poem	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nmod	_	_
18	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
19	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	20	aux:pass	_	_
20	practised	practise	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	Japan	Japan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
23	even	even	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	20	advmod	_	_
25	as	as	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	moral	moral	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	duty	duty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
29	than	than	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
30	as	as	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
32	mere	mere	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
33	literary	literary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	art	art	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | the first curious fact |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **practise** | present · perfect · passive | the first curious fact *not said here* | the writing of short poems |  | Japan | time | as a moral duty; than a mere literary art | tree rules |
| 3 | **write** |  |  | short poems |  |  |  |  | nom writing «act transitive»: of=patient |

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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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