---
title: accost — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «accost» in the school dictionary: To go up to someone and speak to them first, often boldly or unexpectedly. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# accost

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**Who acts:** stranger, two men, you · **What happens:** go up, speak, accost, come forward, not accost, not know · **To what, where:** them, me, gate, men, people · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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«accost» in the school 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: [accost in the school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/accost.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To go up to someone and speak to them first, often boldly or unexpectedly.

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:accost:m1:1
# text = To go up to someone and speak to them first, often boldly or unexpectedly.
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	go	go	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	up	up	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	2	obl	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	speak	speak	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obl	_	_
10	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	often	often	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	boldly	boldly	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	7	advmod	_	_
14	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	unexpectedly	unexpectedly	ADV	RB	_	13	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go up** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | to someone | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 2 | **speak** *speech: other* | infinitive |  |  | them *= they* |  |  | boldly, first *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to they=Co-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.

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A stranger accosted me at the gate.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:accost:x1:1
# text = A stranger accosted me at the gate.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	stranger	stranger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	accosted	accost	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	gate	gate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **accost** | past | a stranger | me |  | the gate |  |  | tree rules |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The two men came forward and politely accosted them.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:accost:x2:1
# text = The two men came forward and politely accosted them.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	forward	forward	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	politely	politely	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	accosted	accost	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
9	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come forward** | past | the two men |  |  |  |  | forward *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **accost** | past | the two men *not said here* | men *= man* |  |  |  | politely *property* | tree rules |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Do not accost people you do not know.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:accost:x3:1
# text = Do not accost people you do not know.
1	Do	do	AUX	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
2	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	3	advmod	_	_
3	accost	accost	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
6	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
8	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **accost** | imperative · do-support | you *not said here* | people |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **know** | present · do-support | you | people *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer people=Stimulus |

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**Text:** the school dictionary of Mova's schools (`world/data/dictionary-schools/`), written for Mova. **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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