---
title: As a fortune-teller he was tolerably successful,—chiefly, I think, b… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: As a fortune-teller he was tolerably successful,—chiefly, I think, because of his perfect sincerity, and because of a peculiar gentle manner that invited confidence. Who acts: teller, I, peculiar gentle manner. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Names of Incense Used., part 1, with 
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 1, sentence 79

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As a fortune-teller he was tolerably successful,—chiefly, I think, because of his perfect sincerity, and because of a peculiar gentle manner that invited confidence.

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**Who acts:** teller, I, peculiar gentle manner · **What happens:** be, think, invite · **To what, where:** confidence

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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 (teller, I, peculiar gentle manner), 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:pg8128:3:81
# text = As a fortune-teller he was tolerably successful,—chiefly, I think, because of his perfect sincerity, and because of a peculiar gentle manner that invited confidence.
1	As	as	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
3	fortune	fortune	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	teller	teller	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	tolerably	tolerably	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	successful	successful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	chiefly	chiefly	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	think	think	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
17	because	because	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADP	21	case	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	fixed	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
20	perfect	perfect	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	sincerity	sincerity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
24	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	fixed	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
27	peculiar	peculiar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	compound	_	_
28	gentle	gentle	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	manner	manner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	conj	_	_
30	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	31	nsubj	_	_
31	invited	invite	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	acl:relcl	_	_
32	confidence	confidence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | teller |  |  |  |  | as a fortune teller; a peculiar gentle manner *conj*; chiefly, successful, tolerably *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | present | I |  |  |  |  | teller's perfect sincerity *ccomp* | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **invite** | past | a peculiar gentle manner | confidence |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent confidence=Recipient |

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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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