---
title: [8] Putting his ear to the chink, he could hear the conversation pla… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: [8] Putting his ear to the chink, he could hear the conversation plainly. Who acts: 8, Tomozō. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Names of Incense Used., part 3, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 3, sentence 141

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\[8\] Putting his ear to the chink, he could hear the conversation plainly.

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**Who acts:** 8, Tomozō · **What happens:** put, hear · **To what, where:** ear, conversation

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This is a sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Names of Incense Used., part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (8, Tomozō), 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:pg8128:5:142
# text = [8] Putting his ear to the chink, he could hear the conversation plainly.
1	[	[	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	8	8	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	4	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	]	]	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	2	punct	_	_
4	Putting	put	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	0	root	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	ear	ear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	chink	chink	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	conversation	conversation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	plainly	plainly	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **put** | gerund | 8 | Tomozō's ear |  |  |  | to the chink | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent ear=Goal |
| 2 | **hear** | could | Tomozō | the conversation |  |  |  | plainly *property* | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer conversation=Stimulus |

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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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