---
title: betrothal — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «betrothal» in the school dictionary: A betrothal is a formal agreement or promise to marry; the time when two people are engaged to be married. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# betrothal

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**Who acts:** betrothal, church · **What happens:** be, promise, marry, engage, come, bell · **To what, where:** formal agreement, two people, marriage, place

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A betrothal is a formal agreement or promise to marry; the time when two people are engaged to be married.

<!-- fold The tree, 20 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:betrothal:m1:1
# text = A betrothal is a formal agreement or promise to marry; the time when two people are engaged to be married.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	betrothal	betrothal	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	formal	formal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	agreement	agreement	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	promise	promise	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	marry	marry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
14	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	18	mark	_	_
15	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	16	nummod	_	_
16	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux:pass	_	_
18	engaged	engage	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	acl:relcl	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
20	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	aux:pass	_	_
21	married	marry	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | a betrothal | a formal agreement and the time |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **promise** *speech: promise* | infinitive | a betrothal *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn promise-37.13 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **marry** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | a betrothal *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **engage** | present · passive |  | two people |  |  |  |  | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP to be NP»: subject=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 5 | **marry** | to-infinitive · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | 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 -->
Immediately after the betrothal came the marriage.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:betrothal:x1:1
# text = Immediately after the betrothal came the marriage.
1	Immediately	immediately	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
2	after	after	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	betrothal	betrothal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	marriage	marriage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | the betrothal | the marriage |  |  |  | immediately *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location marriage=Theme |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The church bells rang for the betrothal.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:betrothal:x2:1
# text = The church bells rang for the betrothal.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	church	church	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	bells	bell	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	rang	ring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	betrothal	betrothal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bell** | present | the church |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **ring** | past | the church *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for the betrothal | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The betrothal took place yesterday evening.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:betrothal:x3:1
# text = The betrothal took place yesterday evening.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	betrothal	betrothal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
5	yesterday	yesterday	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	evening	evening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past | the betrothal | place |  |  | evening |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent place=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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