---
title: betroth — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «betroth» in the school dictionary: To betroth someone is to promise a person in marriage, so that they become engaged to be married. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# betroth

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**Who acts:** they, king, He · **What happens:** betroth, be, become, engage, marry, wish · **To what, where:** someone, marriage, me, son, daughter, brave knight

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To betroth someone is to promise a person in marriage, so that they become engaged to be married.

<!-- fold The tree, 18 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:betroth:m1:1
# text = To betroth someone is to promise a person in marriage, so that they become engaged to be married.
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	betroth	betroth	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	_
3	someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	2	obj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	promise	promise	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	marriage	marriage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	15	mark	_	_
13	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	fixed	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	become	become	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
16	engaged	engage	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	xcomp	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
18	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	aux:pass	_	_
19	married	marry	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **betroth** | to-infinitive |  | someone |  |  |  |  | vn contribute-13.2 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent someone=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | present |  |  |  | marriage |  | promise *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **become** | present | they |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **engage** | participle | they *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent clause=Attribute |
| 5 | **marry** | to-infinitive · passive | they *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V» |

<!-- .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 king wishes to betroth me to the son of the king of the Green City.

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:betroth:x1:1
# text = The king wishes to betroth me to the son of the king of the Green City.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	wishes	wish	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	betroth	betroth	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	Green	Green	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	City	City	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wish** | present | the king |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **betroth** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the king *not said here* | me | the son of the king of the Green City |  |  |  | vn contribute-13.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent i=Theme to son=Recipient |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He promised to betroth his daughter to the brave knight.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:betroth:x2:1
# text = He promised to betroth his daughter to the brave knight.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	promised	promise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	betroth	betroth	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	brave	brave	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	knight	knight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **promise** *speech: promise* | past | He |  |  |  |  |  | vn promise-37.13 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **betroth** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | He *not said here* | his daughter | the brave knight |  |  |  | vn contribute-13.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent daughter=Theme to knight=Recipient |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They were betrothed when they were young.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:betroth:x3:1
# text = They were betrothed when they were young.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	betrothed	betroth	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
5	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **betroth** | past · passive |  | They |  |  |  |  | vn contribute-13.2 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | they |  |  |  |  | young *property* | tree rules |

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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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