---
title: ballad — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «ballad» in the school dictionary: A ballad is a song or poem that tells a story, often in short verses. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# ballad

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** ballad, song poem, old man · **What happens:** be, tell, sing · **To what, where:** song poem, story, short verses, ballad · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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«ballad» in the school dictionary: its meaning for a pupil and its 2 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: [ballad in the school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/ballad.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A ballad is a song or poem that tells a story, often in short verses.

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:ballad:m1:1
# text = A ballad is a song or poem that tells a story, often in short verses.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	ballad	ballad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	song	song	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
6	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	poem	poem	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
8	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	nsubj	_	_
9	tells	tell	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	acl:relcl	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	often	often	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	verses	verse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | a ballad | song poem |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present | song poem | a story |  | short verses |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent story=Recipient |

<!-- .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 -->
The old man sang a ballad about a brave knight.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:ballad:x1:1
# text = The old man sang a ballad about a brave knight.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	sang	sing	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	ballad	ballad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	about	about	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	brave	brave	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	knight	knight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sing** *speech: express* | past | the old man | a ballad |  |  |  | about a brave knight | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location ballad=Theme |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The story was told in a ballad from long ago.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:ballad:x2:1
# text = The story was told in a ballad from long ago.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	ballad	ballad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	from	from	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	10	advmod	_	_
10	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past · passive |  | the story |  | a ballad |  | ago *property* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |

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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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<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [ball](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/ball/)
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