---
title: Sometimes the talk was of strange things seen or heard during his re… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: Sometimes the talk was of strange things seen or heard during his recent journey; sometimes it turned upon old legends or beliefs; sometimes it was about fortune-telling. Who acts: talk, it, fugitive. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Names of Incense Used., part 1, with its depend
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 1, sentence 95

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Sometimes the talk was of strange things seen or heard during his recent journey; sometimes it turned upon old legends or beliefs; sometimes it was about fortune-telling.

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**Who acts:** talk, it, fugitive · **What happens:** be, see, hear, turn, journey · **To what, where:** strange things, old legends

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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 (talk, it, fugitive), 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:pg8128:3:97
# text = Sometimes the talk was of strange things seen or heard during his recent journey; sometimes it turned upon old legends or beliefs; sometimes it was about fortune-telling.
1	Sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	7	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	talk	talk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
8	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	acl	_	_
9	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	heard	hear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	_
11	during	during	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
13	recent	recent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	journey	journey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
16	sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	18	advmod	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	turned	turn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
19	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	legends	legend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl	_	_
22	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	beliefs	belief	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
25	sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	31	advmod	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
27	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	cop	_	_
28	about	about	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
29	fortune	fortune	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	telling	tell	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the talk |  |  |  |  | of strange things; sometimes *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **see** | participle |  | strange things *not said here* |  |  | during fugitive's recent journey |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **hear** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **turn** | past | it |  |  | old legends or beliefs |  | sometimes *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme upon legend=Trajectory |
| 5 | **is** | past | talk |  |  |  |  | fortune *compound*; sometimes, tell *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **journey** |  | fugitive |  |  |  |  |  | nom journey «act transitive»: poss=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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