---
title: However, there was a tradition amongst the wise men of the country t… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: However, there was a tradition amongst the wise men of the country that the Dragon might be overcome by one who possessed King Solomon’s signet-ring, upon which a secret writing was engraved. Who acts: tradition, country. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Dragon of the North(
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Dragon of the North(2), sentence 11

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
However, there was a tradition amongst the wise men of the country that the Dragon might be overcome by one who possessed King Solomon’s signet-ring, upon which a secret writing was engraved.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** tradition, country · **What happens:** be, overcome, possess, engrave · **To what, where:** Dragon, signet ring, secret writing

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Dragon of the North(2). The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (tradition, country), 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:pg640:5:11
# text = However, there was a tradition amongst the wise men of the country that the Dragon might be overcome by one who possessed King Solomon’s signet-ring, upon which a secret writing was engraved.
1	However	however	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	4	expl	_	_
4	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	tradition	tradition	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
7	amongst	amongst	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	wise	wise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	Dragon	Dragon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	aux:pass	_	_
19	overcome	overcome	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	acl:relcl	_	_
20	by	by	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	23	obl	_	_
22	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	23	nsubj	_	_
23	possessed	possess	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	advcl	_	_
24	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	compound	_	_
25	Solomon	Solomon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	29	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	’s	's	PART	POS	_	25	case	_	_
27	signet	signet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	ring	ring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
31	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	37	obl	_	_
33	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	secret	secret	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	writing	writing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nsubj:pass	_	_
36	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	aux:pass	_	_
37	engraved	engrave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	29	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | a tradition amongst the wise men of the country |  |  | there |  | however *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **overcome** | might · passive | the country *not said here* | the Dragon |  |  |  |  | vn exceed-90 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 3 | **possess** | past |  | King Solomon's signet ring |  |  |  | by one | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot ring=Theme |
| 4 | **engrave** | past · passive |  | a secret writing |  | King Solomon's signet ring |  |  | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.theme PP.destination»: subject=Theme upon which=Destination |

<!-- .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 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.

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