---
title: barleycorn — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «barleycorn» in the school dictionary: A barleycorn is one grain of barley, a tiny seed from the barley plant. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# barleycorn

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** barleycorn, One barleycorn, hen, fairy · **What happens:** be, use, peck up, say, have · **To what, where:** one grain, old measuring, tiny grain, barleycorn, one barleycorn · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
«barleycorn» in the school dictionary: its 2 meanings 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: [barleycorn in the school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/barleycorn.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A barleycorn is one grain of barley, a tiny seed from the barley plant.

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:barleycorn:m1:1
# text = A barleycorn is one grain of barley, a tiny seed from the barley plant.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	barleycorn	barleycorn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	grain	grain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	barley	barley	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	tiny	tiny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	seed	seed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
12	from	from	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	barley	barley	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	_
15	plant	plant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | a barleycorn | one grain and a tiny seed from the barley plant |  |  |  | of barley | 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.

## Meaning 2 {#m2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
An old unit of length, about a third of an inch, used in old measuring.

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:barleycorn:m2:1
# text = An old unit of length, about a third of an inch, used in old measuring.
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	unit	unit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	about	about	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	third	third	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	appos	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	inch	inch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	conj	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	measuring	measuring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | participle |  |  |  | old measuring |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
One barleycorn is a tiny grain of barley.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:barleycorn:x1:1
# text = One barleycorn is a tiny grain of barley.
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	barleycorn	barleycorn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	tiny	tiny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	grain	grain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	barley	barley	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | One barleycorn | a tiny grain |  |  |  | of barley | tree rules |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The hen pecked up every barleycorn in the yard.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:barleycorn:x2:1
# text = The hen pecked up every barleycorn in the yard.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	hen	hen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	pecked	peck	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	up	up	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
5	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	6	det	_	_
6	barleycorn	barleycorn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	yard	yard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **peck up** | participle | the hen *not said here* | every barleycorn |  |  |  | in the yard | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent barleycorn=Patient in yard=Location |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The fairy said she would rather have one barleycorn than all the jewels.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:barleycorn:x3:1
# text = The fairy said she would rather have one barleycorn than all the jewels.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	fairy	fairy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
5	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
6	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
8	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	nummod	_	_
9	barleycorn	barleycorn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	than	than	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	13	det:predet	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	jewels	jewel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the fairy |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **have** | would | fairy | one barleycorn |  |  |  | than all jewels | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent barleycorn=Patient |

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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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