---
title: mattock — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «mattock» in the school dictionary: A mattock is a digging tool like a pickaxe, with a heavy blade on one side and a flat or pointed blade on the other, used for breaking hard ground. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mattock/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [dictionaries](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/) / [school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/) / [M](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/) / mattock

# mattock

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** mattock, men, She, They · **What happens:** be, use, break, dig, carry up, search · **To what, where:** digging tool, hard ground, mattock, mattocks

<!-- .vabout -->
«mattock» 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: [mattock in the school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/mattock.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A mattock is a digging tool like a pickaxe, with a heavy blade on one side and a flat or pointed blade on the other, used for breaking hard ground.

<!-- fold The tree, 30 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:mattock:m1:1
# text = A mattock is a digging tool like a pickaxe, with a heavy blade on one side and a flat or pointed blade on the other, used for breaking hard ground.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	mattock	mattock	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	digging	digging	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	tool	tool	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	like	like	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	pickaxe	pickaxe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	with	with	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	blade	blade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
15	on	on	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	17	nummod	_	_
17	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
20	flat	flat	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
21	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	pointed	pointed	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	conj	_	_
23	blade	blade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	conj	_	_
24	on	on	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
28	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	parataxis	_	_
29	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
30	breaking	break	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	28	advcl	_	_
31	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | a mattock | a digging tool and a heavy blade on one side and a flat blade on the other |  |  |  | like a pickaxe | tree rules |
| 2 | **use** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **break** | gerund |  | hard ground |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer ground=Patient |

<!-- .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 men dug the hard ground with their mattocks.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:mattock:x1:1
# text = The men dug the hard ground with their mattocks.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	dug	dig	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	with	with	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	mattocks	mattock	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 | **dig** | past | the men | the hard ground |  |  |  | with men's mattocks | vn poke-19-1-1-1 «NP V NP.theme PP.instsrument»: agent=Agent ground=Theme with mattock=Instrument |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She carried a mattock up the mountain.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:mattock:x2:1
# text = She carried a mattock up the mountain.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	carried	carry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	mattock	mattock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	up	up	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	mountain	mountain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **carry up** | past | She | a mattock |  |  |  | the mountain *obl:unmarked* | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mattock=Theme |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They searched all evening, swinging their mattocks.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:mattock:x3:1
# text = They searched all evening, swinging their mattocks.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	searched	search	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	det	_	_
4	evening	evening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	swinging	swing	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
7	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	mattocks	mattock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **search** | past | They |  |  |  | evening |  | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **swing** | gerund | They *not said here* | their mattocks |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent mattock=Theme |

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [matting](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/matting/)
- next →: [mattress](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mattress/)
- ↑ back to [M in school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/)