---
title: The magician was delighted to find that his search had been successf… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The magician was delighted to find that his search had been successful, and at once set to work to interpret the secret signs engraved upon the ring, but it took him seven weeks to make them out clearly. Who acts: magician, search, it. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Dragon
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Dragon of the North(2), sentence 137

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The magician was delighted to find that his search had been successful, and at once set to work to interpret the secret signs engraved upon the ring, but it took him seven weeks to make them out clearly.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** magician, search, it · **What happens:** be, find, set, work, interpret, engrave · **To what, where:** secret signs, ring, magician, signs · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (magician, search, it), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg640:5:137
# text = The magician was delighted to find that his search had been successful, and at once set to work to interpret the secret signs engraved upon the ring, but it took him seven weeks to make them out clearly.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	magician	magician	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	delighted	delighted	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	search	search	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
10	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	12	cop	_	_
12	successful	successful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
15	at	at	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	17	obl	_	_
17	set	set	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	interpret	interpret	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	xcomp	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	secret	secret	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	signs	sign	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obj	_	_
25	engraved	engrave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	acl	_	_
26	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	ring	ring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
31	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
33	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obj	_	_
34	seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	35	nummod	_	_
35	weeks	week	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obj	_	_
36	to	to	PART	TO	_	37	mark	_	_
37	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	advcl	_	_
38	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	obj	_	_
39	out	out	ADP	RP	_	37	compound:prt	_	_
40	clearly	clearly	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the magician |  |  |  |  | delighted *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **find** | to-infinitive | the magician *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | past · perfect | magician's search |  |  |  |  | successful *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **set** | participle | the magician *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **work** | to-infinitive | the magician *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **interpret** | to-infinitive | the magician *not said here* | the secret signs |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent sign=Theme |
| 7 | **engrave** | participle |  | the secret signs *not said here* |  | the ring |  |  | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.theme PP.destination»: agent=Agent upon ring=Destination |
| 8 | **take** | past | it |  | magician |  | week |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument he=Destination |
| 9 | **make out** | to-infinitive |  | signs *= sign* |  |  |  | clearly *property* | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer they=Stimulus |
| 10 | **search** |  | magician |  |  |  |  |  | nom search «act transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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