---
title: contrive — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «contrive» in the school dictionary: To manage, by some clever means, to do something or bring a result about. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# contrive

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** clever, She, Dad, I · **What happens:** manage, mean, do, bring, make, build · **To what, where:** something, result, queue, shelf, old box, way · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
«contrive» 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: [contrive in the school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/contrive.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To manage, by some clever means, to do something or bring a result about.

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:contrive:m1:1
# text = To manage, by some clever means, to do something or bring a result about.
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	manage	manage	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
4	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
5	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	6	det	_	_
6	clever	clever	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	nsubj	_	_
7	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	ccomp	_	_
11	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	10	obj	_	_
12	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	bring	bring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	conj	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	result	result	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	about	about	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **manage** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **mean** | present | some clever |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **do** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | something |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent something=Eventuality |
| 4 | **bring** | infinitive |  | a result |  |  |  | about *property* | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent result=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}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To make or build something cleverly.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:contrive:m2:1
# text = To make or build something cleverly.
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	make	make	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	build	build	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
5	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	4	obj	_	_
6	cleverly	cleverly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |
| 2 | **build** | infinitive |  | something |  |  |  | cleverly *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset something=Product |

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She contrived to be first in the queue.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:contrive:x1:1
# text = She contrived to be first in the queue.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	contrived	contrive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	cop	_	_
5	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	2	xcomp	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	queue	queue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **contrive** | past | She |  |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | to-infinitive | She *not said here* |  |  | the queue |  | first *property* | tree rules |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Dad contrived a shelf from an old box.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:contrive:x2:1
# text = Dad contrived a shelf from an old box.
1	Dad	dad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	contrived	contrive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	shelf	shelf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	from	from	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	box	box	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **contrive** | past | Dad | a shelf |  | a old box |  |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP PP.material»: agent=Agent shelf=Result from box=Material |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I must contrive a way to get home before dark.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:contrive:x3:1
# text = I must contrive a way to get home before dark.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	contrive	contrive	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	acl	_	_
8	home	home	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
9	before	before	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **contrive** | must | I | a way |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Result |
| 2 | **get** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | a way *not said here* |  |  | before dark | home *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
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