---
title: They are the ghosts of men who anciently, for the sake of gain, made… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: 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. A sentence of «I
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 1, sentence 73

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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.

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**Who acts:** powers, incense · **What happens:** be, make, sell, find, compel, seek · **To what, where:** ghosts, sake, bad incense, powers, state, only food

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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.

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

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg8128:3:75
# text = 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.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	ghosts	ghost	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
7	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	6	acl:relcl	_	_
8	anciently	anciently	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	for	for	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	sake	sake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	gain	gain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
16	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	acl	_	_
17	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	sold	sell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	conj	_	_
19	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	incense	incense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	32	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
23	by	by	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	evil	evil	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	karma	karma	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	29	det	_	_
29	action	action	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	_
30	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
31	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	32	advmod	_	_
32	find	find	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
33	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	32	obj	_	_
34	in	in	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	state	state	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
37	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
38	hunger	hunger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	38	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	suffering	suffering	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	compound	_	_
41	spirits	spirit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
44	compelled	compel	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
45	to	to	PART	TO	_	46	mark	_	_
46	seek	seek	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	xcomp	_	_
47	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	49	nmod:poss	_	_
48	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
49	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obj	_	_
50	in	in	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	smoke	smoke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	_
53	of	of	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
54	incense	incense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	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 | 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 |

<!-- .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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