---
title: defendant — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «defendant» in the school dictionary: A defendant is a person accused of a crime in a court of law, who must answer the charge. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# defendant

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**Who acts:** defendant, person, judge · **What happens:** be, accuse, answer, say, listen, deny · **To what, where:** person, court, charge, home, money · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A defendant is a person accused of a crime in a court of law, who must answer the charge.

<!-- fold The tree, 19 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:defendant:m1:1
# text = A defendant is a person accused of a crime in a court of law, who must answer the charge.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	defendant	defendant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	accused	accuse	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	crime	crime	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	court	court	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	18	nsubj	_	_
17	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	answer	answer	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	charge	charge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | a defendant | a person |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **accuse** | participle |  | a person *not said here* |  | a court of law |  | of a crime | vn suspect-81 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent of crime=Attribute |
| 3 | **answer** *speech: assert* | must | a person | the charge |  |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent charge=Eventuality |

<!-- .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 -->
The defendant said he was at home that night.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:defendant:x1:1
# text = The defendant said he was at home that night.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	defendant	defendant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	ccomp	_	_
8	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	9	det	_	_
9	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the defendant |  |  |  | night |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | past | defendant |  |  | home |  |  | tree rules |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The judge listened to the defendant and the witnesses.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:defendant:x2:1
# text = The judge listened to the defendant and the witnesses.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	judge	judge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	listened	listen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	defendant	defendant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	witnesses	witness	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **listen** | past | the judge |  |  |  |  | to the defendant and the witnesses | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to defendant=Theme |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The defendant denied taking the money.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:defendant:x3:1
# text = The defendant denied taking the money.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	defendant	defendant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	denied	deny	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	taking	take	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	xcomp	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **deny** | past | the defendant |  |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **take** | gerund | the defendant *not said here* | the money |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent money=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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