---
title: befall — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «befall» in the school dictionary: To happen to someone, often something bad: «If you do ill, ill will befall you.». Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# befall

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**Who acts:** you, Bad luck, harm, we · **What happens:** happen, do, befall, be, stay · **To what, where:** ill, you, sheep, us

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To happen to someone, often something bad: «If you do ill, ill will befall you.».

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:befall:m1:1
# text = To happen to someone, often something bad: «If you do ill, ill will befall you.».
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	happen	happen	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	often	often	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	4	appos	_	_
8	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
10	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
12	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	do	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
14	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
16	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	conj	_	_
17	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	befall	befall	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
19	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | to someone | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **do** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present | you | ill |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ill=Eventuality |
| 3 | **befall** *in a quote* | future |  | you |  |  |  |  | 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 -->
Bad luck befell the farmer's sheep.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:befall:x1:1
# text = Bad luck befell the farmer's sheep.
1	Bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	luck	luck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	befell	befall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	farmer	farmer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	's	's	PART	POS	_	5	case	_	_
7	sheep	sheep	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **befall** | past | Bad luck | the farmer's sheep |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Be careful, or harm may befall you.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:befall:x2:1
# text = Be careful, or harm may befall you.
1	Be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	cop	_	_
2	careful	careful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
4	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
5	harm	harm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	befall	befall	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	conj	_	_
8	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | careful *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **befall** | may | harm | you |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
What will befall us if we stay here?

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:befall:x3:1
# text = What will befall us if we stay here?
1	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	3	obj	_	_
2	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	befall	befall	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
6	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	stay	stay	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
8	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **befall** | future |  | us |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **stay** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | we |  |  | here |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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