---
title: complexion — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «complexion» in the school dictionary: The natural colour and look of a person's skin, especially on the face. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# complexion

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**Who acts:** She, cold, whole complexion, stranger · **What happens:** look, have, make, change, arrive · **To what, where:** fair complexion, complexion

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The natural colour and look of a person's skin, especially on the face.

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:complexion:m1:1
# text = The natural colour and look of a person's skin, especially on the face.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	natural	natural	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	colour	colour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	's	's	PART	POS	_	8	case	_	_
10	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	especially	especially	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
13	on	on	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **look** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | of a person's skin and the face | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent of skin=Theme |

<!-- .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}

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

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The general character or look of something.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:complexion:m2:1
# text = The general character or look of something.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	general	general	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	character	character	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	look	look	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She had a fair complexion and rosy cheeks.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:complexion:x1:1
# text = She had a fair complexion and rosy cheeks.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	fair	fair	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	complexion	complexion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	rosy	rosy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	cheeks	cheek	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | She | a fair complexion and rosy cheeks |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent complexion=Patient |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The cold made his complexion pale.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:complexion:x2:1
# text = The cold made his complexion pale.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cold	cold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	complexion	complexion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	pale	pale	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | past | the cold | cold's complexion |  |  |  | pale *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset complexion=Product |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The whole complexion of the story changed when the stranger arrived.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:complexion:x3:1
# text = The whole complexion of the story changed when the stranger arrived.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	complexion	complexion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	changed	change	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	11	mark	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	stranger	stranger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	arrived	arrive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | past | the whole complexion of the story |  |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **arrive** | past | the stranger |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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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