---
title: harridan — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «harridan» in the school dictionary: A harridan is a fierce, bad-tempered old woman who scolds and frightens people. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# harridan

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**Who acts:** harridan, fierce tempered old woman, Nobody · **What happens:** temper, be, scold, frighten, frown, dare · **To what, where:** fierce tempered old woman, people, harridan

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«harridan» in the school dictionary: its meaning for a pupil and its 2 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: [harridan in the school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/harridan.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A harridan is a fierce, bad-tempered old woman who scolds and frightens people.

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:harridan:m1:1
# text = A harridan is a fierce, bad-tempered old woman who scolds and frightens people.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	harridan	harridan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
5	fierce	fierce	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	bad	bad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	tempered	temper	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	amod	_	_
10	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
12	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	13	nsubj	_	_
13	scolds	scold	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	acl:relcl	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	frightens	frighten	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
16	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **temper** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | present | a harridan | a fierce tempered old woman |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **scold** | present | a fierce tempered old woman |  |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **frighten** | present | a fierce tempered old woman *not said here* | people |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus people=Experiencer |

<!-- .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 -->
The harridan frowned at the brave men.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:harridan:x1:1
# text = The harridan frowned at the brave men.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	harridan	harridan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	frowned	frown	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	brave	brave	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **frown** | participle |  | the harridan *not said here* |  |  |  | at the brave men | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nobody dared to argue with the harridan.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:harridan:x2:1
# text = Nobody dared to argue with the harridan.
1	Nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	2	nsubj	_	_
2	dared	dare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	argue	argue	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	harridan	harridan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dare** | past | Nobody |  |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **argue** *speech: disagree* | to-infinitive | Nobody *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with the harridan | vn chit\_chat-37.6-1 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with harridan=Co-Agent |

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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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