---
title: governess — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «governess» in the school dictionary: a woman who lived in a family's house and taught its children at home. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# governess

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**Who acts:** woman, governess, children · **What happens:** live, teach, be, letter, look · **To what, where:** house, children, home, letters

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .note -->
Usage: old-fashioned — kept apart, not parsed.

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
a woman who lived in a family's house and taught its children at home.

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:governess:m1:1
# text = a woman who lived in a family's house and taught its children at home.
1	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	4	nsubj	_	_
4	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	's	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	taught	teach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
12	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obj	_	_
14	at	at	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **live** | past | a woman |  |  | a family's house |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in house=Location |
| 2 | **teach** *speech: other* | past | a woman *not said here* |  | house's children | home |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent child=Recipient |

<!-- .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 -->
Prince Alphege's governess was alone with her daughter.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:governess:x1:1
# text = Prince Alphege's governess was alone with her daughter.
1	Prince	Prince	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nmod:desc	_	_
2	Alphege	Alphege	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	governess	governess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
6	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Alphege  Prince's governess |  |  |  |  | with Alphege's daughter; alone *property* | tree rules |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The governess taught the children their letters.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:governess:x2:1
# text = The governess taught the children their letters.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	governess	governess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	taught	teach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	letters	letter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **teach** *speech: other* | past | the governess | children's letters | the children |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent child=Recipient letter=Topic |
| 2 | **letter** |  | children *= child* |  |  |  |  |  | nom letter «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In old stories a governess looks after the princes.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:governess:x3:1
# text = In old stories a governess looks after the princes.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	governess	governess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	looks	look	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	after	after	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	princes	prince	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **look** | present | a governess |  |  |  | after the princes | in old stories | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in story=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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