---
title: brethren — Early Modern English dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «brethren» in the Early Modern English dictionary: Brothers, or relatives. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# brethren

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**Who acts:** he, I, Immortal fame, Joseph, they · **What happens:** say, seek, fall down, lay, know, not know · **To what, where:** brethren, slain brethren, Joseph · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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«brethren» in the Early Modern English dictionary: its meaning for a pupil and its 3 examples, every sentence parsed by Mova itself — its syntax tree, a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, and its pragmatics clause by clause. The word in the dictionary, with its sense in the lessons: [brethren in the Early Modern English dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/emode/w/brethren.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Brothers, or relatives.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:brethren:m1:1
# text = Brothers, or relatives.
1	Brothers	brother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	relatives	relative	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And he said: 'I seek my brethren.

<!-- .note -->
From Torah GEN.37.16, JPS 1917.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:brethren:x1:1
# text = And he said: 'I seek my brethren.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	7	punct	_	_
5	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	seek	seek	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
8	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	brethren	brethren	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | he |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **seek** | present | I | my brethren |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent brethren=Theme |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Immortal fame!" when he himself fell down, and lay quietly among his slain brethren.

<!-- .note -->
From Tanglewood Tales.

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:brethren:x2:1
# text = Immortal fame!" when he himself fell down, and lay quietly among his slain brethren.
1	Immortal	immortal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	fame	fame	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
5	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	6	nmod:unmarked	_	_
8	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	down	down	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	lay	lay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	conj	_	_
13	quietly	quietly	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
14	among	among	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
16	slain	slain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	brethren	brethren	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fall down** *in a quote* | past | Immortal fame |  |  |  |  | down *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **lay** *in a quote* | infinitive | Immortal fame *not said here* |  |  | fame's slain brethren |  | quietly *property* | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent among brethren=Destination |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew him not.

<!-- .note -->
From Torah GEN.42.8, JPS 1917.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:brethren:x3:1
# text = And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew him not.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	Joseph	Joseph	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	brethren	brethren	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
10	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | past | Joseph | Joseph's brethren |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer brethren=Stimulus |
| 2 | **not** **know** | past | they | Joseph |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus |

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**Text:** the Early Modern English dictionary of Mova's schools (`world/data/dictionary-schools/`), written for Mova; its examples quote public-domain texts. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each meaning and example read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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