---
title: Possibly they mean things myriads of years old,—things relating to o… — In Ghostly Japan · tree and pragmatics
description: Possibly they mean things myriads of years old,—things relating to odors, to exhalations, to influences and effluences inapprehensible by duller human sense,—impulses also, impulses without name, bestirred in ghosts of dogs by the light of great moons. Who acts: words, things. A sentence of «In Ghos
---

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# In Ghostly Japan, Names of Incense Used., part 7, sentence 27

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Possibly they mean things myriads of years old,—things relating to odors, to exhalations, to influences and effluences inapprehensible by duller human sense,—impulses also, impulses without name, bestirred in ghosts of dogs by the light of great moons.

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**Who acts:** words, things · **What happens:** mean, relate, bestir, ghost, light · **To what, where:** things, impulses, ghosts, dogs, great moons

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This is a sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Names of Incense Used., part 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (words, things), 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:pg8128:9:27
# text = Possibly they mean things myriads of years old,—things relating to odors, to exhalations, to influences and effluences inapprehensible by duller human sense,—impulses also, impulses without name, bestirred in ghosts of dogs by the light of great moons.
1	Possibly	possibly	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	mean	mean	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	myriads	myriad	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	_
8	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	_
12	relating	relate	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	11	acl	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	odors	odor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	exhalations	exhalation	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	influences	influence	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	conj	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	effluences	effluence	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	conj	_	_
23	inapprehensible	inapprehensible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	parataxis	_	_
24	by	by	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
25	duller	dull	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	27	amod	_	_
26	human	human	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	sense	sense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	30	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	impulses	impulse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	conj	_	_
31	also	also	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
33	impulses	impulse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	parataxis	_	_
34	without	without	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
37	bestirred	bestir	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	33	acl	_	_
38	in	in	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	ghosts	ghost	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	obl	_	_
40	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	nmod	_	_
42	by	by	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	_
45	of	of	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	amod	_	_
47	moons	moon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | words *= word* | things and things and impulses |  |  |  | impulses without name *parataxis*; possibly *property* | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Topic |
| 2 | **relate** | gerund | things *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to odors | vn relate-86.2-2 «NP V PP.co-theme»: agent=Theme to odor=Co-Theme |
| 3 | **bestir** | participle |  | impulses without name *not said here* |  | ghosts of dogs |  | by the light of great moons | tree rules |
| 4 | **ghost** |  |  | dogs |  |  |  |  | nom ghost «cognition transitive»: of=patient |
| 5 | **light** |  |  | great moons |  |  |  |  | nom light «phenomenon transitive»: of=patient |

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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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