---
title: frightful — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «frightful» in the school dictionary: Very bad, terrible or causing great fear. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# frightful

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**Who acts:** place, He, storm · **What happens:** cause, have, give, be, bend · **To what, where:** great fear, frightful look, frightful yell, trees

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Very bad, terrible or causing great fear.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:frightful:m1:1
# text = Very bad, terrible or causing great fear.
1	Very	very	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	terrible	terrible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	_
5	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	causing	cause	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	_
7	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	fear	fear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cause** | gerund |  | great fear |  |  |  |  | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition fear=Patient |

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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: informal — kept apart, not parsed.

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Very bad or unpleasant, as in «a frightful mess».

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:frightful:m2:1
# text = Very bad or unpleasant, as in «a frightful mess».
1	Very	very	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
3	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	unpleasant	unpleasant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
6	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
8	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	frightful	frightful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	mess	mess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

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

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The place had a frightful look.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:frightful:x1:1
# text = The place had a frightful look.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	frightful	frightful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	look	look	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | the place | a frightful look |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent look=Patient |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He gave a frightful yell.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:frightful:x2:1
# text = He gave a frightful yell.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	gave	give	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	frightful	frightful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	yell	yell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | past | He | a frightful yell |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent yell=Theme |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The storm was frightful, and the trees bent low.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:frightful:x3:1
# text = The storm was frightful, and the trees bent low.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	storm	storm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	frightful	frightful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
9	bent	bend	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
10	low	low	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the storm |  |  |  |  | frightful *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **bend** | participle · passive |  | the trees |  |  |  | low *property* | vn knead-26.5 «NP V NP.material»: subject=Material |

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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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