---
title: curtsy — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «curtsy» in the school dictionary: A bow made by bending the knees, one foot behind the other, as a sign of respect, done by a girl or woman. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# curtsy

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**Who acts:** curtsy, little girl, She, you · **What happens:** make, bend, do, sign, be, curtsy · **To what, where:** bow, knees, sign, respect, curtsy, Queen

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A bow made by bending the knees, one foot behind the other, as a sign of respect, done by a girl or woman.

<!-- fold The tree, 23 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:curtsy:m1:1
# text = A bow made by bending the knees, one foot behind the other, as a sign of respect, done by a girl or woman.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	bow	bow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	bending	bend	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	knees	knee	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
10	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	appos	_	_
11	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	as	as	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	sign	sign	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	respect	respect	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
21	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	acl	_	_
22	by	by	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
25	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | participle |  | a bow *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |
| 2 | **bend** | gerund |  | the knees |  |  |  |  | vn knead-26.5 «NP V NP.material»: agent=Agent knee=Material |
| 3 | **do** | participle |  | a sign of respect *not said here* |  |  |  | by a girl or woman | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **sign** |  |  | respect |  |  |  |  | nom sign «communication transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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 curtsy is to make such a bow.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:curtsy:m2:1
# text = To curtsy is to make such a bow.
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	curtsy	curtsy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	8	det:predet	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	bow	bow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

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

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The little girl made a curtsy to the queen.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:curtsy:x1:1
# text = The little girl made a curtsy to the queen.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	curtsy	curtsy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	queen	queen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | past | the little girl | a curtsy |  |  |  | to the queen | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent curtsy=Product |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She curtsied and smiled.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:curtsy:x2:1
# text = She curtsied and smiled.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	curtsied	curtsy	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	smiled	smile	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **curtsy** | past | She |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **smile** | past | She *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Always curtsy when you meet the Queen.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:curtsy:x3:1
# text = Always curtsy when you meet the Queen.
1	Always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	2	advmod	_	_
2	curtsy	curtsy	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	5	mark	_	_
4	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	meet	meet	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	Queen	Queen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **curtsy** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | always *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **meet** | present | you | the Queen |  |  |  |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent queen=Co-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.

<!-- /div -->

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