---
title: When the Dragon comes, I will ask him what the riddle is, for he tel… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When the Dragon comes, I will ask him what the riddle is, for he tells me everything; then listen carefully what he answers.’ Who acts: Dragon, I, riddle, stone. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Dragon and His Grandmother, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Dragon and His Grandmother, sentence 43

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When the Dragon comes, I will ask him what the riddle is, for he tells me everything; then listen carefully what he answers.’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Dragon, I, riddle, stone · **What happens:** come, ask, be, tell, listen, answer · **To what, where:** stone, everything, me · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Dragon and His Grandmother. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Dragon, I, riddle, stone), 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:pg640:9:43
# text = When the Dragon comes, I will ask him what the riddle is, for he tells me everything; then listen carefully what he answers.’
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	4	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Dragon	Dragon	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	comes	come	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
9	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	8	ccomp	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	riddle	riddle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
13	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	tells	tell	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
18	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	17	iobj	_	_
19	everything	everything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
21	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	22	advmod	_	_
22	listen	listen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	conj	_	_
23	carefully	carefully	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
24	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	26	obj	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	answers	answer	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | present | the Dragon |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | future | I |  | stone |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 3 | **is a** | present | the riddle |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present | stone | everything | me |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent i=Recipient everything=Topic |
| 5 | **listen** | infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  | then | carefully *property* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **answer** *speech: assert* | present | stone |  |  |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |

<!-- .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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