---
title: fruitless — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «fruitless» in the school dictionary: Fruitless means producing no result; it fails to find or gain anything. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# fruitless

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**Who acts:** Fruitless, result, They, fruitless wanderings, his, fruitless wait · **What happens:** mean, produce, fail, not find, gain, make · **To what, where:** result, anything, fruitless search

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Fruitless means producing no result; it fails to find or gain anything.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:fruitless:m1:1
# text = Fruitless means producing no result; it fails to find or gain anything.
1	Fruitless	fruitless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	nsubj	_	_
2	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	producing	produce	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	xcomp	_	_
4	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	5	det	_	_
5	result	result	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	8	punct	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	fails	fail	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	gain	gain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	conj	_	_
13	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | Fruitless |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **produce** *not said to happen* | gerund | Fruitless *not said here* | no result |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent result=Result |
| 3 | **fail** | present | result |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **not** **find** | to-infinitive | result *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **gain** | infinitive | result *not said here* | anything |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anything=Theme |

<!-- .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 -->
They made a fruitless search for the lost ring.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:fruitless:x1:1
# text = They made a fruitless search for the lost ring.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	fruitless	fruitless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	search	search	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	lost	lose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	amod	_	_
9	ring	ring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | past | They | a fruitless search |  |  |  | for the lost ring | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP P.asset»: agent=Agent search=Product for ring=Asset |
| 2 | **lose** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
All his fruitless wanderings took years.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:fruitless:x2:1
# text = All his fruitless wanderings took years.
1	All	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	4	det:predet	_	_
2	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
3	fruitless	fruitless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	wanderings	wandering	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past | his fruitless wanderings |  |  |  | year |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **wander** |  | his *= he* |  |  |  |  |  | nom wandering «act transitive»: poss=agent |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Her fruitless wait ended when night fell.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:fruitless:x3:1
# text = Her fruitless wait ended when night fell.
1	Her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	fruitless	fruitless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	wait	wait	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	ended	end	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
6	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **end** | past | Her fruitless wait |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 2 | **fall** | past | night |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=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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