---
title: Both before him and behind him marched the demons who formed his ret… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: Both before him and behind him marched the demons who formed his retinue, heads wet, garments wet, decked with garlands of water-lilies both blue and white, carrying in their hands clusters of lotus-flowers both red and white, chewing the fibrous stalks of water-lilies, streaming with drops of water
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 15, sentence 38

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Both before him and behind him marched the demons who formed his retinue, heads wet, garments wet, decked with garlands of water-lilies both blue and white, carrying in their hands clusters of lotus-flowers both red and white, chewing the fibrous stalks of water-lilies, streaming with drops of water and mud.

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**Who acts:** demons · **What happens:** march, form, garment, deck, carry, chew · **To what, where:** demons, retinue, hands clusters, fibrous stalks

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This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 15. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (demons), 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:pg74064:15:38
# text = Both before him and behind him marched the demons who formed his retinue, heads wet, garments wet, decked with garlands of water-lilies both blue and white, carrying in their hands clusters of lotus-flowers both red and white, chewing the fibrous stalks of water-lilies, streaming with drops of water and mud.
1	Both	both	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc:preconj	_	_
2	before	before	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obl	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
5	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	conj	_	_
7	marched	march	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	demons	demon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
10	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	11	nsubj	_	_
11	formed	form	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	acl:relcl	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	retinue	retinue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	conj	_	_
16	wet	wet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
18	garments	garment	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
19	wet	wet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
21	decked	deck	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	conj	_	_
22	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	garlands	garland	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
25	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	lilies	lily	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nmod	_	_
28	both	both	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc:preconj	_	_
29	blue	blue	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	nmod	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
33	carrying	carry	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	advcl	_	_
34	in	in	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
35	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
36	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	compound	_	_
37	clusters	cluster	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obl	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
39	lotus	lotus	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	39	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	flowers	flower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	nmod	_	_
42	both	both	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc:preconj	_	_
43	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	conj	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
45	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
47	chewing	chew	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	33	conj	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
49	fibrous	fibrous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	50	amod	_	_
50	stalks	stalk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	obj	_	_
51	of	of	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
52	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	52	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	lilies	lily	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	50	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
56	streaming	stream	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	33	conj	_	_
57	with	with	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
58	drops	drop	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	56	obl	_	_
59	of	of	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
60	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	nmod	_	_
61	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	62	cc	_	_
62	mud	mud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **march** | past |  | the demons |  |  | before set |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent demon=Theme before he=Trajectory |
| 2 | **form** | past | the demons | set's retinue and heads |  |  |  | wet *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location retinue=Theme |
| 3 | **garment** | present |  |  |  |  |  | wet *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **deck** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | with garlands of water lilies  blue | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent with garland=Theme |
| 5 | **carry** | gerund |  |  |  | hands clusters of lotus flowers |  |  | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent in cluster=Location |
| 6 | **chew** | gerund |  | the fibrous stalks of water lilies |  |  |  |  | vn chew-39.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent stalk=Patient |
| 7 | **stream** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | with drops of water and mud | vn substance\_emission-43.4-1 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location with drop=Theme |

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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:** «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Project Gutenberg book 74064 (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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