---
title: Behind them came the Head Chief, the Vice-Chief, the Deputy and Assi… — Just so stories · tree and pragmatics
description: Behind them came the Head Chief, the Vice-Chief, the Deputy and Assistant Chiefs (all armed to the upper teeth), the Hetmans and Heads of Hundreds, Platoffs with their Platoons, and Dolmans with their Detachments; Woons, Neguses, and Akhoonds ranking in the rear (still armed to the teeth). Who acts:
---

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# Just so stories, How the First Letter Was Written, sentence 126

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Behind them came the Head Chief, the Vice-Chief, the Deputy and Assistant Chiefs (all armed to the upper teeth), the Hetmans and Heads of Hundreds, Platoffs with their Platoons, and Dolmans with their Detachments; Woons, Neguses, and Akhoonds ranking in the rear (still armed to the teeth).

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**Who acts:** legs, Akhoonds · **What happens:** come, rank, detach · **To what, where:** Dolmans, rear

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This is a sentence of «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, How the First Letter Was Written. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (legs, Akhoonds), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg2781:9:126
# text = Behind them came the Head Chief, the Vice-Chief, the Deputy and Assistant Chiefs (all armed to the upper teeth), the Hetmans and Heads of Hundreds, Platoffs with their Platoons, and Dolmans with their Detachments; Woons, Neguses, and Akhoonds ranking in the rear (still armed to the teeth).
1	Behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	Head	Head	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	Chief	Chief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
9	Vice	vice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	Chief	Chief	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	Deputy	deputy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	Assistant	Assistant	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	_
17	Chiefs	Chief	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	_
18	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	20	det	_	_
20	armed	armed	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	parataxis	_	_
21	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	upper	upper	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	Hetmans	Hetman	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	Heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	conj	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	Hundreds	hundred	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
34	Platoffs	platoff	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	_
35	with	with	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	Platoons	platoon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
40	Dolmans	Dolman	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
41	with	with	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	43	nmod:poss	_	_
43	Detachments	detachment	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
45	Woons	woon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
47	Neguses	negus	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
50	Akhoonds	akhoond	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	conj	_	_
51	ranking	rank	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	50	acl	_	_
52	in	in	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	rear	rear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obl	_	_
55	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	57	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	still	still	ADV	RB	_	57	advmod	_	_
57	armed	armed	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	54	amod	_	_
58	to	to	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
59	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	60	det	_	_
60	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	57	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	57	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | legs *= leg* | Dolmans with legs's Detachments |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **rank** | gerund | Akhoonds *not said here* |  |  | the rear |  |  | vn masquerade-29.6 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **detach** |  | legs *= leg* |  |  |  |  |  | nom detachment «feeling transitive»: poss=agent |

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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:** «Just so stories» by Rudyard Kipling, Project Gutenberg book 2781 (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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