---
title: cleave — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «cleave» in the school dictionary: To split or cut right through something with a heavy blow: cleave the wood with an axe. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# cleave

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**Who acts:** knight, axe, hero · **What happens:** split, cut, cleave, stick, cry · **To what, where:** wood, knight, log, rock, old tales · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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«cleave» in the school dictionary: its 2 meanings 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: [cleave in the school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/cleave.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .note -->
Usage: old use — kept apart, not parsed.

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To split or cut right through something with a heavy blow: cleave the wood with an axe.

<!-- fold The tree, 17 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:cleave:m1:1
# text = To split or cut right through something with a heavy blow: cleave the wood with an axe.
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	split	split	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	cut	cut	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
5	right	right	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	through	through	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	4	obl	_	_
8	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	blow	blow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
13	cleave	cleave	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	with	with	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	axe	axe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **split** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn break-45.1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **cut** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | through something; right *property* | vn cut-21.1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent through something=Patient |
| 3 | **cleave** | infinitive |  | the wood |  |  |  | with a axe | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent wood=Patient with axe=Instrument |

<!-- .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.

## Meaning 2 {#m2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To stick firmly to something: cleave to the truth.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:cleave:m2:1
# text = To stick firmly to something: cleave to the truth.
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	stick	stick	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	firmly	firmly	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	7	punct	_	_
7	cleave	cleave	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	truth	truth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stick** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | to something; firmly *property* | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent to something=Co-Patient |
| 2 | **cleave** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | to the truth *result* | vn break-45.1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Patient to truth=Result |

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The knight cried, «Cleave him to the brisket!»

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:cleave:x1:1
# text = The knight cried, «Cleave him to the brisket!»
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	knight	knight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	cried	cry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
5	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	Cleave	cleave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	ccomp	_	_
7	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	brisket	brisket	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cry** *speech: express* | past | the knight |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **cleave** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | knight |  |  |  | to the brisket *result* | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent he=Patient to brisket=Result |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The axe cleaved the log in two.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:cleave:x2:1
# text = The axe cleaved the log in two.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	axe	axe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	cleaved	cleave	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	log	log	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	_
7	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cleave** | past | the axe | the log |  |  |  |  | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent log=Patient |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In old tales the hero could cleave a rock with one blow.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:cleave:x3:1
# text = In old tales the hero could cleave a rock with one blow.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	tales	tale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	hero	hero	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	cleave	cleave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	rock	rock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	with	with	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	12	nummod	_	_
12	blow	blow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cleave** | could | the hero | a rock |  | old tales |  | with one blow | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent rock=Patient with blow=Instrument |

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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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