---
title: frivolous — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «frivolous» in the school dictionary: Silly and not serious; caring more about fun or trifles than about what matters. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# frivolous

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**Who acts:** trifles, He, you, we, frivolous joke · **What happens:** care, matter, be, do, not be, have · **To what, where:** more, frivolous young fellow, work

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Silly and not serious; caring more about fun or trifles than about what matters.

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:frivolous:m1:1
# text = Silly and not serious; caring more about fun or trifles than about what matters.
1	Silly	silly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	serious	serious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	1	punct	_	_
6	caring	care	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	1	advcl	_	_
7	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	obj	_	_
8	about	about	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	fun	fun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
10	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	trifles	trifle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	conj	_	_
12	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
13	about	about	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	15	nsubj	_	_
15	matters	matter	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **care** | gerund |  | more |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **matter** | present | trifles |  |  |  |  |  | vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus |

<!-- .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 -->
He is a frivolous young fellow.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:frivolous:x1:1
# text = He is a frivolous young fellow.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	frivolous	frivolous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	fellow	fellow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | He | a frivolous young fellow |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Don't be so frivolous when we have work to do.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:frivolous:x2:1
# text = Don't be so frivolous when we have work to do.
1	Do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	cop	_	_
4	so	so	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	frivolous	frivolous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	csubj	_	_
6	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
7	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
9	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **is** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | frivolous *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **have** | present | we | work |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent work=Patient |
| 4 | **do** | to-infinitive | we *not said here* | work *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A frivolous joke at a sad time is unkind.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:frivolous:x3:1
# text = A frivolous joke at a sad time is unkind.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	frivolous	frivolous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	joke	joke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	sad	sad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
8	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
9	unkind	unkind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | a frivolous joke at a sad time |  |  |  |  | unkind *property* | 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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