---
title: loophole — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «loophole» in the school dictionary: A loophole is a narrow slit in a castle or fort wall, through which archers could shoot. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# loophole

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**Who acts:** loophole, archers, soldiers, castle, rule · **What happens:** be, shoot, have, get out · **To what, where:** narrow slit, castle, small way, arrows, loopholes, many loopholes

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A loophole is a narrow slit in a castle or fort wall, through which archers could shoot.

<!-- fold The tree, 17 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:loophole:m1:1
# text = A loophole is a narrow slit in a castle or fort wall, through which archers could shoot.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	loophole	loophole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	narrow	narrow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	slit	slit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	castle	castle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	fort	fort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	_
12	wall	wall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
14	through	through	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	18	obl	_	_
16	archers	archer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nsubj	_	_
17	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	shoot	shoot	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | a loophole | a narrow slit |  | a castle or fort wall |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **shoot** | could | archers |  |  | a narrow slit |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent through which=Destination |

<!-- .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}

<!-- .note -->
Usage: everyday — kept apart, not parsed.

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A loophole is a small way round a rule.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:loophole:m2:1
# text = A loophole is a small way round a rule.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	loophole	loophole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	round	round	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	rule	rule	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | a loophole | a small way |  |  |  | round a rule | tree rules |

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The soldiers shot arrows through the loopholes.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:loophole:x1:1
# text = The soldiers shot arrows through the loopholes.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	soldiers	soldier	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	shot	shoot	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	arrows	arrow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
5	through	through	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	loopholes	loophole	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shoot** | past | the soldiers | arrows |  | the loopholes |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent arrow=Theme through loophole=Destination |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The castle had many loopholes in its thick walls.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:loophole:x2:1
# text = The castle had many loopholes in its thick walls.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	castle	castle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	loopholes	loophole	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
8	thick	thick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	walls	wall	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | the castle | many loopholes |  | castle's thick walls |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent loophole=Patient |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The rule had a loophole, so he got out of it.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:loophole:x3:1
# text = The rule had a loophole, so he got out of it.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	rule	rule	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	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	loophole	loophole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	so	so	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
10	out	out	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | the rule | a loophole |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent loophole=Patient |
| 2 | **get out** | past | rule |  |  |  |  | of loophole; out *property* | vn withdraw-82-1 «NP V PP.source»: agent=Agent of it=Source |

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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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