---
title: But formerly it was used to summon spirits as well as to banish them. — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: But formerly it was used to summon spirits as well as to banish them. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Names of Incense Used., part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/3/44/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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/) / [Names of Incense Used., part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/3/) / 44

# In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 1, sentence 44

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But formerly it was used to summon spirits as well as to banish them.

<!-- .vintro -->
**What happens:** use, summon, banish · **To what, where:** fragrance, spirits

<!-- .vabout -->
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: what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg8128:3:46
# text = But formerly it was used to summon spirits as well as to banish them.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	formerly	formerly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	summon	summon	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	spirits	spirit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
9	as	as	ADV	RB	ExtPos=ADV	7	advmod	_	_
10	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	9	fixed	_	_
11	as	as	ADP	IN	_	9	fixed	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	banish	banish	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	advcl	_	_
14	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | past · passive |  | fragrance |  |  |  | formerly *property* | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: subject=Theme clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **summon** | to-infinitive |  | spirits |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent spirit=Recipient |
| 3 | **banish** | to-infinitive |  | spirits *= spirit* |  |  |  |  | vn banish-10.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 43](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/3/43/)
- next →: [sentence 45](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/3/45/)
- ↑ back to [Names of Incense Used., part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8128/3/)