[ss Agent] is most directly associated with the passive [p en/by]-phrase ([Passives](/en/passives/)), but also permits other construals:

- [ex 001 "the decisive vote [p en/by Agent] the City Council"]

- [ss Agent--Gestalt]:
	- [ex 002 "the decisive vote [p en/of Agent--Gestalt] the City Council"]

	- [ex 003 "the City Council[p en/'s Agent--Gestalt] decisive vote"]

	- [ex 008 "the president[p en/'s Agent--Gestalt] achievements"]

	- [ex 004 "they needed Joan[p en/'s Agent--Gestalt] help"]

When two symmetric [ss Agent]s are collected in a single NP functioning as a set, it is marked as a [ss Whole] construal:

- [ex 006 "There was a war [p en/between Agent--Whole] France and Spain. ([ss Agent--Whole])"]

- [ex 007 "a discussion [p en/among Agent--Whole] the board members ([ss Agent--Whole])"]

## Secondary agents

Many event predicates license multiple participants acting in complementary ways and portrayed as having independent agency. In such cases, an [ss Agent] scene role is allowed for either participant, even if one (typically realized in a syntactically more prominent position, such as subject) is perhaps understood as slightly more agentive:

- [ex 009 "I fought in a war [p en/against Agent--Beneficiary] the Germans. ([ss Agent--Beneficiary])"]

- [ex 012 "a match [p en/versus Agent--Beneficiary] Serena Williams ([ss Agent--Beneficiary])"]

- [ex 010 "I <u>talked</u>/<u>argued</u> [p en/with Agent--Ancillary] my roommate about cleaning duties. ([ss Agent--Ancillary])"]

In other cases, a second "extra" participant may be portrayed as accompanying the first in the event—possibly acting volitionally, and possibly implying some sort of additional social interaction or alignment of goals, but not strictly necessary for that kind of event to take place. [pspecial Together_with en/together_with Ancillary] serves as a diagnostic for these participants, which are labeled simply [ss Ancillary].

- [ex 011 "(Together) [p en/with Ancillary] my roommate, I argued that it was unfair of the landlord to increase our rent. ([ss Ancillary])"]

See also: [ss Org], [ss Originator], [ss Source], [ss Stimulus], [ss Ancillary], [ss SocialRel]