---
title: expostulate — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «expostulate» in the school dictionary: To protest or argue strongly, often in a complaint, to someone who has done something wrong or is about to. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# expostulate

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**Who acts:** Princess, Mum, I, cock · **What happens:** protest, argue, do, be, expostulate, come · **To what, where:** complaint, something, nurse, perch

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To protest or argue strongly, often in a complaint, to someone who has done something wrong or is about to.

<!-- fold The tree, 20 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:expostulate:m1:1
# text = To protest or argue strongly, often in a complaint, to someone who has done something wrong or is about to.
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	protest	protest	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	argue	argue	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
5	strongly	strongly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	often	often	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	complaint	complaint	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	2	obl	_	_
14	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	16	nsubj	_	_
15	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	acl:relcl	_	_
17	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	16	obj	_	_
18	wrong	wrong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
19	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
21	about	about	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	conj	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **protest** *speech: disagree* | to-infinitive |  |  |  | a complaint |  | to someone | vn rebel-71.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **argue** *speech: disagree* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | strongly *property* | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **do** | present · perfect |  | something |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent something=Eventuality |
| 4 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | about *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
«But, Princess,» expostulated the nurse.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:expostulate:x1:1
# text = «But, Princess,» expostulated the nurse.
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	Princess	Princess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
7	expostulated	expostulate	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	nurse	nurse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **expostulate** | past | Princess | the nurse |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mum expostulated when I came home late.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:expostulate:x2:1
# text = Mum expostulated when I came home late.
1	Mum	mum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	expostulated	expostulate	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
4	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
6	home	home	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	late	late	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **expostulate** | past | Mum |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **come** | past | I |  |  |  |  | home, late *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The cock expostulated from his perch.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:expostulate:x3:1
# text = The cock expostulated from his perch.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cock	cock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	expostulated	expostulate	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	from	from	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	perch	perch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **expostulate** | past | the cock |  |  | cock's perch |  |  | tree rules |

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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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