---
title: With this sword only it is possible to kill the Serpent, because eve… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: With this sword only it is possible to kill the Serpent, because even if its blade breaks a new one will grow again for every head the monster has. Who acts: it, blade, new one, monster. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Donkey Cabbage, part 4, with its dependency tree and th
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/13/12/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Yellow Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/) / [The Donkey Cabbage, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/13/) / 12

# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Donkey Cabbage, part 4, sentence 12

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
With this sword only it is possible to kill the Serpent, because even if its blade breaks a new one will grow again for every head the monster has.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** it, blade, new one, monster · **What happens:** be, kill, break, grow, have · **To what, where:** Serpent, head

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Donkey Cabbage, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (it, blade, new one, monster), 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:pg640:13:12
# text = With this sword only it is possible to kill the Serpent, because even if its blade breaks a new one will grow again for every head the monster has.
1	With	with	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	possible	possible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	csubj	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	Serpent	Serpent	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
13	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
14	even	even	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
15	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
16	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	blade	blade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
18	breaks	break	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
22	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	grow	grow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	conj	_	_
24	again	again	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
25	for	for	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	27	det	_	_
27	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	monster	monster	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nsubj	_	_
30	has	have	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | it |  |  |  |  | with this sword; possible *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **kill** | to-infinitive |  | the Serpent |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent serpent=Theme |
| 3 | **break** | present | sword's blade |  |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **grow** | future | a new one |  |  |  | again | for every head | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **have** | present | the monster | every head *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Patient |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**Text:** «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 640 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/13/11/)
- next →: [sentence 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/13/13/)
- ↑ back to [The Donkey Cabbage, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/13/)