---
title: imp — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «imp» in the school dictionary: An imp is a small, mischievous devil or sprite in old stories. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# imp

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**Who acts:** imp, This, Poor Iktomi · **What happens:** be, say, understand, not help · **To what, where:** small mischievous devil, naughty little child, fault, business, little imp · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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«imp» in the school dictionary: its 2 meanings 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: [imp in the school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/imp.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
An imp is a small, mischievous devil or sprite in old stories.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:imp:m1:1
# text = An imp is a small, mischievous devil or sprite in old stories.
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	imp	imp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
5	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	mischievous	mischievous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	devil	devil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
9	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	sprite	sprite	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | a imp | a small mischievous devil or sprite in old stories |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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.

## Meaning 2 {#m2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
An imp is a naughty little child, said playfully.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:imp:m2:1
# text = An imp is a naughty little child, said playfully.
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	imp	imp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	naughty	naughty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
6	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
9	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	playfully	playfully	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | a imp and a naughty little child *not said here* | a naughty little child |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | a imp and a naughty little child |  |  |  |  | playfully *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
This is the imp's fault!

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:imp:x1:1
# text = This is the imp's fault!
1	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	imp	imp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	fault	fault	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 | This | the imp's fault |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The imp understood his business.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:imp:x2:1
# text = The imp understood his business.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	imp	imp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	understood	understand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	business	business	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **understand** | past | the imp | imp's business |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer business=Stimulus |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Poor Iktomi cannot help being a little imp.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:imp:x3:1
# text = Poor Iktomi cannot help being a little imp.
1	Poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	Iktomi	Iktomi	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	cop	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	imp	imp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **help** | can | Poor Iktomi |  |  |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | gerund |  | a little imp |  |  |  |  | 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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