---
title: knotty — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «knotty» in the school dictionary: Full of knots, or lumpy and twisted, like old wood or rough legs. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# knotty

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**Who acts:** old tree, camel, This, we · **What happens:** sort out, tangle, have, wave, be, think · **To what, where:** knotty roots, knotty legs, knotty question

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Full of knots, or lumpy and twisted, like old wood or rough legs.

<!-- fold The tree, 13 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:knotty:m1:1
# text = Full of knots, or lumpy and twisted, like old wood or rough legs.
1	Full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	knots	knot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
5	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	lumpy	lumpy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	conj	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	twisted	twisted	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	like	like	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
13	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	rough	rough	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

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

## Meaning 2 {#m2}

<!-- .note -->
Usage: of a problem — kept apart, not parsed.

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
hard to sort out, tangled.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:knotty:m2:1
# text = hard to sort out, tangled.
1	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
2	to	to	PART	TO	_	3	mark	_	_
3	sort	sort	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	xcomp	_	_
4	out	out	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	tangled	tangle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	1	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sort out** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn classify-29.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **tangle** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The old tree had knotty roots.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:knotty:x1:1
# text = The old tree had knotty roots.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	knotty	knotty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | the old tree | knotty roots |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent root=Patient |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The camel waved his knotty legs.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:knotty:x2:1
# text = The camel waved his knotty legs.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	camel	camel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	waved	wave	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	6	nmod:poss	_	_
5	knotty	knotty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wave** | past | the camel | camel's knotty legs |  |  |  |  | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leg=Patient |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
This is a knotty question; we must think hard.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:knotty:x3:1
# text = This is a knotty question; we must think hard.
1	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	knotty	knotty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	question	question	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	5	punct	_	_
7	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	acl:relcl	_	_
10	hard	hard	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | This | a knotty question |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | must | we | a knotty question *not said here* |  |  |  | hard *property* | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot question=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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