---
title: silly — Early Modern English dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «silly» in the Early Modern English dictionary: Foolish or ridiculous in a way that is funny or a bit daft. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# silly

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**Who acts:** way, you, that · **What happens:** be, say · **To what, where:** bit · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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«silly» 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: [silly in the Early Modern English dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/emode/w/silly.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Foolish or ridiculous in a way that is funny or a bit daft.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:silly:m1:1
# text = Foolish or ridiculous in a way that is funny or a bit daft.
1	Foolish	foolish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
2	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	ridiculous	ridiculous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	conj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	funny	funny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	acl:relcl	_	_
10	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	bit	bit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl:unmarked	_	_
13	daft	daft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | a way |  |  |  |  | funny *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | a way *not said here* | a bit |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
“Of course you have, you silly.

<!-- .note -->
From Peter Pan.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:silly:x1:1
# text = “Of course you have, you silly.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Of	of	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADV	5	advmod	_	_
3	course	course	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	fixed	_	_
4	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	silly	silly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

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

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"Who says that you are silly?"

<!-- .note -->
From Fifty Famous Stories Retold.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:silly:x2:1
# text = "Who says that you are silly?"
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	3	nsubj	_	_
3	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	silly	silly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: ask* *in a quote* | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | present | you |  |  |  |  | silly *property* | tree rules |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Well, that was one big silly.

<!-- .note -->
From English Fairy Tales.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:silly:x3:1
# text = Well, that was one big silly.
1	Well	well	INTJ	UH	_	7	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	nsubj	_	_
6	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	silly	silly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | that |  |  |  |  | silly *property* | 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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