---
title: gruel — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «gruel» in the school dictionary: A thin, watery food made by boiling oats or other grain in water or milk. It was cheap food for poor people or the sick long ago. (old use). Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/gruel/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [dictionaries](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/) / [school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/) / [G](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/) / gruel

# gruel

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** food, orphan, you, gruel · **What happens:** make, boil, be, eat · **To what, where:** thin watery food, cheap food, bowl, gruel

<!-- .vabout -->
«gruel» 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: [gruel in the school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/gruel.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A thin, watery food made by boiling oats or other grain in water or milk. It was cheap food for poor people or the sick long ago. (old use).

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A thin, watery food made by boiling oats or other grain in water or milk.

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:gruel:m1:1
# text = A thin, watery food made by boiling oats or other grain in water or milk.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
2	thin	thin	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	watery	watery	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl	_	_
7	by	by	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	boiling	boil	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	9	amod	_	_
9	oats	oat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
10	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	grain	grain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	conj	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	_
15	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	milk	milk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | participle |  | a thin watery food *not said here* |  |  |  | by boiling oats or other grain in water or milk | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |
| 2 | **boil** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn cooking-45.3 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |

<!-- .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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* It was cheap food for poor people or the sick long ago.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:gruel:m1:2
# text = It was cheap food for poor people or the sick long ago.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	cheap	cheap	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
8	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	sick	sick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	conj	_	_
11	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	12	advmod	_	_
12	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | food | cheap food |  |  |  | for poor people | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 3:* (old use).

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:gruel:m1:3
# text = (old use).
1	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	use	use	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

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

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The orphan ate a bowl of gruel.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:gruel:x1:1
# text = The orphan ate a bowl of gruel.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	orphan	orphan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	ate	eat	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	bowl	bowl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	gruel	gruel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | past | the orphan | a bowl of gruel |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bowl=Patient |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Make some gruel for the sick king.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:gruel:x2:1
# text = Make some gruel for the sick king.
1	Make	make	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	3	det	_	_
3	gruel	gruel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	sick	sick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | imperative | you *not said here* | some gruel |  |  |  | for the sick king | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent gruel=Material for king=Beneficiary |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The gruel was thin and cold.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:gruel:x3:1
# text = The gruel was thin and cold.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	gruel	gruel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	thin	thin	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the gruel |  |  |  |  | thin *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | the gruel *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [grudge](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/grudge/)
- next →: [gruesome](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/gruesome/)
- ↑ back to [G in school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/)