---
title: menial — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «menial» in the school dictionary: Of work that is dull, low and needs no special skill, such as cleaning and scrubbing; a servant who does such work. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# menial

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** that, servant, She, house, Cleaning, menials · **What happens:** be, need, scrub, do, have, work · **To what, where:** special skill, such work, menial work, grate, menial task, hall

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Of work that is dull, low and needs no special skill, such as cleaning and scrubbing; a servant who does such work.

<!-- fold The tree, 22 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:menial:m1:1
# text = Of work that is dull, low and needs no special skill, such as cleaning and scrubbing; a servant who does such work.
1	Of	of	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
3	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
4	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	dull	dull	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	low	low	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	needs	need	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
10	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	12	det	_	_
11	special	special	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	skill	skill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|ExtPos=ADP	16	case	_	_
15	as	as	ADP	IN	_	14	fixed	_	_
16	cleaning	cleaning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	scrubbing	scrub	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	21	punct	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
22	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	23	nsubj	_	_
23	does	do	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	acl:relcl	_	_
24	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | that |  |  |  |  | of work; dull *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | that *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **need** | present | that *not said here* | no special skill and cleaning |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot skill=Theme |
| 4 | **scrub** | gerund | that *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V PP-Conative»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **do** | present | a servant | such work |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent work=Eventuality |

<!-- .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 -->
She had to do the menial work of the house every day.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:menial:x1:1
# text = She had to do the menial work of the house every day.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	menial	menial	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
11	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	12	det	_	_
12	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | She |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **do** | to-infinitive | She *not said here* | the menial work of the house |  |  | day |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent work=Eventuality |
| 3 | **work** |  | the house |  |  |  |  |  | nom work «act intransitive»: of=agent |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cleaning the grate was a menial task.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:menial:x2:1
# text = Cleaning the grate was a menial task.
1	Cleaning	clean	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	csubj	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	grate	grate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	menial	menial	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	task	task	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **clean** | gerund |  | the grate |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent grate=Patient |
| 2 | **is a** | past | Cleaning | a menial task |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The king's menials swept the hall.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:menial:x3:1
# text = The king's menials swept the hall.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	menials	menial	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	swept	sweep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	hall	hall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sweep** | past | the king's menials | the hall |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme hall=Trajectory |

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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.

<!-- /div -->

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