---
title: But Shinzaburō was a Buddhist,—with a million lives behind him and a… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: But Shinzaburō was a Buddhist,—with a million lives behind him and a million lives before him; and he was too selfish to give up even one miserable existence for the sake of the girl that came back to him from the dead. Who acts: Shinzaburō, girl. A sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, 
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 5, sentence 110

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But Shinzaburō was a Buddhist,—with a million lives behind him and a million lives before him; and he was too selfish to give up even one miserable existence for the sake of the girl that came back to him from the dead.

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**Who acts:** Shinzaburō, girl · **What happens:** be, live, give up, come back · **To what, where:** Buddhist, one miserable existence, Shinzaburō, dead

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This is a sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Names of Incense Used., part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Shinzaburō, girl), 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:pg8128:7:111
# text = But Shinzaburō was a Buddhist,—with a million lives behind him and a million lives before him; and he was too selfish to give up even one miserable existence for the sake of the girl that came back to him from the dead.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	Shinzaburō	Shinzaburō	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	Buddhist	Buddhist	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	with	with	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	million	million	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	obl	_	_
11	lives	live	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
12	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obl	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	million	million	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	17	nummod	_	_
17	lives	life	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	conj	_	_
18	before	before	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
24	too	too	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	selfish	selfish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	conj	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	advcl	_	_
28	up	up	ADP	RP	_	27	compound:prt	_	_
29	even	even	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
30	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	32	nummod	_	_
31	miserable	miserable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	existence	existence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
33	for	for	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	sake	sake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	_
39	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	40	nsubj	_	_
40	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	acl:relcl	_	_
41	back	back	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
42	to	to	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	obl	_	_
44	from	from	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | Shinzaburō | a Buddhist |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **live** | present |  |  |  |  | before Shinzaburō | with a million; behind Shinzaburō | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme with million=Location |
| 3 | **is** | past | Shinzaburō |  |  |  |  | selfish *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **give up** | to-infinitive | Shinzaburō *not said here* | one miserable existence |  |  |  | for the sake of the girl | vn resign-10.11-2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **come back** | past | the girl |  | Shinzaburō | the dead |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location PP.destination»: agent=Theme to he=Initial\_Location from dead=Destination |

<!-- .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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