---
title: cantankerous — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «cantankerous» in the school dictionary: Cantankerous means bad-tempered, quarrelsome and hard to please. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# cantankerous

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**Who acts:** Cantankerous, grandad, Nobody · **What happens:** mean, temper, please, be, shout, want · **To what, where:** cantankerous old man, cantankerous farmer · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cantankerous means bad-tempered, quarrelsome and hard to please.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:cantankerous:m1:1
# text = Cantankerous means bad-tempered, quarrelsome and hard to please.
1	Cantankerous	Cantankerous	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	tempered	temper	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	quarrelsome	quarrelsome	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	conj	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	please	please	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | Cantankerous |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **temper** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **please** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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 -->
My grandad is cantankerous before breakfast.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:cantankerous:x1:1
# text = My grandad is cantankerous before breakfast.
1	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	grandad	grandad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	cantankerous	cantankerous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	before	before	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	breakfast	breakfast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | My grandad |  |  |  | before breakfast | cantankerous *property* | tree rules |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The cantankerous old man shouted at the children.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:cantankerous:x2:1
# text = The cantankerous old man shouted at the children.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	cantankerous	cantankerous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	shouted	shout	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shout** *speech: express* | participle |  | the cantankerous old man *not said here* |  |  |  | at the children | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nobody wanted to help the cantankerous farmer.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:cantankerous:x3:1
# text = Nobody wanted to help the cantankerous farmer.
1	Nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	2	nsubj	_	_
2	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	cantankerous	cantankerous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	farmer	farmer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | past | Nobody |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **help** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Nobody *not said here* |  | the cantankerous farmer |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent farmer=Beneficiary |

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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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