---
title: ought — Early Modern English dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «ought» in the Early Modern English dictionary: Should, or was right to; the old noun sense (anything) is no longer used. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# ought

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** you, us, we, Effie, He · **What happens:** be, use, let, work, do, say · **To what, where:** old noun sense, us, happy man · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
«ought» 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: [ought in the Early Modern English dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/emode/w/ought.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Should, or was right to; the old noun sense (anything) is no longer used.

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:ought:m1:1
# text = Should, or was right to; the old noun sense (anything) is no longer used.
1	Should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
3	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
9	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
10	noun	noun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	sense	sense	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	11	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	13	punct	_	_
15	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux:pass	_	_
16	no	no	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	longer	long	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	18	advmod	_	_
18	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | should |  |  |  |  |  | right *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **use** | present · passive |  | the old noun sense |  |  |  | long *property* | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: subject=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.

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Let us work as we ought.”

<!-- .note -->
From The Blue Fairy Book.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:ought:x1:1
# text = Let us work as we ought.”
1	Let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	1	obj	_	_
3	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	xcomp	_	_
4	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	ought	ought	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **let** | imperative | you *not said here* | us |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **work** | infinitive | us *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"What ought we to do?" said Effie.

<!-- .note -->
From The Book of Dragons.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:ought:x2:1
# text = "What ought we to do?" said Effie.
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	6	obj	_	_
3	ought	ought	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
9	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	Effie	Effie	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** *in a quote* | ought | we |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
| 2 | **say** *speech: ask* | past | Effie |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He ought to be a happy man.

<!-- .note -->
From Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:ought:x3:1
# text = He ought to be a happy man.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
2	ought	ought	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	happy	happy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | ought | He | a happy man |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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