---
title: brier — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «brier» in the school dictionary: A brier is another spelling of briar, a prickly bush with thorny stems. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# brier

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**Who acts:** brier, Brer Rabbit, thorns, rabbit · **What happens:** be, not fling, say, scratch, run · **To what, where:** spelling, Brer Rabbit, brier patch, legs · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A brier is another spelling of briar, a prickly bush with thorny stems.

<!-- fold The tree, 13 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:brier:m1:1
# text = A brier is another spelling of briar, a prickly bush with thorny stems.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	brier	brier	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	5	det	_	_
5	spelling	spelling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	briar	briar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	prickly	prickly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	appos	_	_
12	with	with	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	thorny	thorny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	stems	stem	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | a brier | another spelling |  |  |  | of briar | 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 -->
"Don't fling me in that brier-patch," said Brer Rabbit.

<!-- fold The tree, 11 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:brier:x1:1
# text = "Don't fling me in that brier-patch," said Brer Rabbit.
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Do	do	AUX	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	fling	fling	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	ccomp	_	_
5	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
7	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	10	det	_	_
8	brier	brier	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	patch	patch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
13	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	Brer	Brer	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	_
15	Rabbit	Rabbit	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **fling** *in a quote* | infinitive · do-support |  | Brer Rabbit *= rabbit* |  | that brier patch |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent i=Theme in patch=Destination |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Brer Rabbit |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The thorns on the brier scratched the boy's legs.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:brier:x2:1
# text = The thorns on the brier scratched the boy's legs.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	thorns	thorn	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
3	on	on	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	brier	brier	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	scratched	scratch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **scratch** | past | the thorns on the brier | the boy's legs |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leg=Theme |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The rabbit ran into the brier-patch and was safe.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:brier:x3:1
# text = The rabbit ran into the brier-patch and was safe.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	rabbit	rabbit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	into	into	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
6	brier	brier	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	patch	patch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
11	safe	safe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **run** | past | the rabbit |  |  |  |  | into the brier patch *result* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme into patch=Result |
| 2 | **is** | past | the rabbit *not said here* |  |  |  |  | safe *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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