---
title: But before he went against the Dragon he led an army to fight the me… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But before he went against the Dragon he led an army to fight the men who had killed his father, and he slew their King, and took all his wealth, and went home. Who acts: Sigurd, army. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Sigurd, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Story of Sigurd, sentence 55

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But before he went against the Dragon he led an army to fight the men who had killed his father, and he slew their King, and took all his wealth, and went home.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Sigurd, army · **What happens:** go, lead, fight, kill, slay, take · **To what, where:** army, men, King, wealth

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Sigurd. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Sigurd, army), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg540:51:55
# text = But before he went against the Dragon he led an army to fight the men who had killed his father, and he slew their King, and took all his wealth, and went home.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
2	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	_
5	against	against	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Dragon	Dragon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	led	lead	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	army	army	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	fight	fight	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	_
16	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	18	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	acl:relcl	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	slew	slay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
25	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
30	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	32	det:predet	_	_
31	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	wealth	wealth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	conj	_	_
36	home	home	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past | Sigurd |  |  |  |  | against the Dragon | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme against dragon=Location |
| 2 | **lead** | past | Sigurd | a army |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent army=Patient clause=Result |
| 3 | **fight** | to-infinitive | a army *not said here* | the men |  |  |  |  | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent man=Co-Agent |
| 4 | **kill** | past · perfect · passive |  | the men |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Experiencer father=Result |
| 5 | **slay** | past | Sigurd | men's King |  |  |  |  | vn murder-42.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent king=Patient |
| 6 | **take** | past |  | Sigurd's wealth |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wealth=Theme |
| 7 | **go** | past |  |  |  |  |  | home *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
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 Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 540 (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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