---
title: Now caravan-leaders, when the wind is ahead, to avoid the dust, ride… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics
description: Now caravan-leaders, when the wind is ahead, to avoid the dust, ride in front, sitting in their cars, surrounded by their attendants. Who acts: you, wind. A sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 15, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The grateful elephant, Opening, part 15, sentence 39

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Now caravan-leaders, when the wind is ahead, to avoid the dust, ride in front, sitting in their cars, surrounded by their attendants.

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**Who acts:** you, wind · **What happens:** caravan, be, avoid, ride, sit, surround · **To what, where:** leaders, dust, front, cars

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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 (you, wind), 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:pg74064:15:39
# text = Now caravan-leaders, when the wind is ahead, to avoid the dust, ride in front, sitting in their cars, surrounded by their attendants.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	_
2	caravan	caravan	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	leaders	leader	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
6	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	10	mark	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
9	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
10	ahead	ahead	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	avoid	avoid	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	dust	dust	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	ride	ride	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	front	front	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
21	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	17	advcl	_	_
22	in	in	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	cars	car	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
26	surrounded	surround	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	acl	_	_
27	by	by	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	attendants	attendant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obl:agent	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **caravan** | imperative | you *not said here* | leaders |  |  | now |  | vn vehicle-51.4.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leader=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | present | the wind |  |  |  |  | ahead *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **avoid** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | the dust |  |  |  |  | vn avoid-52 «NP V NP.location»: agent=Agent dust=Location |
| 4 | **ride** | infinitive |  |  |  | front |  |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **sit** | gerund |  |  |  | lilies's cars |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in car=Location |
| 6 | **surround** | participle |  | lilies's cars *not said here* |  |  |  | lilies's attendants *obl:agent* | vn contiguous\_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=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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