---
title: lawlessness — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «lawlessness» in the school dictionary: The state of having no law or order; a time when people break the rules and nobody keeps control. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# lawlessness

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**Who acts:** state, people, nobody, town, sheriff, Police · **What happens:** have, break, keep, fall, leave, stop · **To what, where:** law, rules, control, lawlessness, streets, forest · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The state of having no law or order; a time when people break the rules and nobody keeps control.

<!-- fold The tree, 19 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:lawlessness:m1:1
# text = The state of having no law or order; a time when people break the rules and nobody keeps control.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	state	state	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
4	having	have	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	acl	_	_
5	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	6	det	_	_
6	law	law	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	order	order	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
12	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	14	mark	_	_
13	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
14	break	break	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	acl:relcl	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	rules	rule	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	19	nsubj	_	_
19	keeps	keep	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
20	control	control	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | gerund | the state  a time *not said here* | no law or order |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent law=Patient |
| 2 | **break** | present | people | the rules |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer rule=Patient |
| 3 | **keep** | present | nobody | control |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent control=Theme |

<!-- .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 town fell into lawlessness after the sheriff left.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:lawlessness:x1:1
# text = The town fell into lawlessness after the sheriff left.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	into	into	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	lawlessness	lawlessness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	after	after	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	sheriff	sheriff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	left	leave	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fall** | past | the town |  |  |  |  | into lawlessness *result* | vn become-109.1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient into lawlessness=Result |
| 2 | **leave** | past | the sheriff |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Police stopped the lawlessness in the streets.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:lawlessness:x2:1
# text = Police stopped the lawlessness in the streets.
1	Police	police	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	stopped	stop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	lawlessness	lawlessness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	streets	street	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | past | Police | the lawlessness |  | the streets |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality lawlessness=Eventuality |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The tale tells of wild lawlessness in the forest.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:lawlessness:x3:1
# text = The tale tells of wild lawlessness in the forest.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	tale	tale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	tells	tell	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	lawlessness	lawlessness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | present | the tale |  |  | the forest |  | of wild lawlessness | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=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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