---
title: buffoon — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «buffoon» in the school dictionary: A person who acts silly or clownish to make others laugh; a clown or fool. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# buffoon

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**Who acts:** person, others, buffoon, crowd · **What happens:** act, make, laugh, grunt, squeak, stand · **To what, where:** others, platform, buffoon

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A person who acts silly or clownish to make others laugh; a clown or fool.

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:buffoon:m1:1
# text = A person who acts silly or clownish to make others laugh; a clown or fool.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	4	nsubj	_	_
4	acts	act	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
5	silly	silly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
6	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	clownish	clownish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
10	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
11	laugh	laugh	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	clown	clown	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
15	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	fool	fool	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **act** | present | a person and a clown or fool |  |  |  |  | silly *property* | vn act-114-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **make** | to-infinitive | a person and a clown or fool *not said here* | others |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **laugh** | infinitive | others *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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 buffoon grunted and squeaked.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:buffoon:x1:1
# text = The buffoon grunted and squeaked.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	buffoon	buffoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	grunted	grunt	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	squeaked	squeak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grunt** | past | the buffoon |  |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **squeak** | past | the buffoon *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The buffoon stood alone on the platform.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:buffoon:x2:1
# text = The buffoon stood alone on the platform.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	buffoon	buffoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	platform	platform	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand** | past | the buffoon |  |  | the platform |  | alone *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on platform=Location |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The crowd laughed at the buffoon.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:buffoon:x3:1
# text = The crowd laughed at the buffoon.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	crowd	crowd	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	laughed	laugh	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	buffoon	buffoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **laugh** | past | the crowd |  |  | the buffoon |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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