---
title: minstrel — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «minstrel» in the school dictionary: A minstrel was, long ago, a singer or musician who travelled from place to place singing songs and telling tales. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# minstrel

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**Who acts:** minstrel, singer, children · **What happens:** be, travel, sing, tell, play, gather · **To what, where:** singer, place, songs, tales, harp, great hall · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A minstrel was, long ago, a singer or musician who travelled from place to place singing songs and telling tales.

<!-- fold The tree, 20 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:minstrel:m1:1
# text = A minstrel was, long ago, a singer or musician who travelled from place to place singing songs and telling tales.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	minstrel	minstrel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
5	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	_
6	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	singer	singer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
10	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	musician	musician	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	conj	_	_
12	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	13	nsubj	_	_
13	travelled	travel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	acl:relcl	_	_
14	from	from	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
18	singing	sing	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	advcl	_	_
19	songs	song	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obj	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	telling	tell	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	conj	_	_
22	tales	tale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | a minstrel | a singer or musician |  |  |  | ago *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **travel** | past | a singer or musician |  |  | place |  | to place | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to place=Destination |
| 3 | **sing** *speech: express* | gerund | a singer or musician *not said here* | songs |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location song=Theme |
| 4 | **tell** *speech: assert* | gerund | a singer or musician *not said here* | tales |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent tale=Recipient |

<!-- .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 minstrel played his harp in the great hall.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:minstrel:x1:1
# text = The minstrel played his harp in the great hall.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	minstrel	minstrel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	played	play	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	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	harp	harp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	hall	hall	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 | **play** | past | the minstrel | minstrel's harp |  | the great hall |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent harp=Theme |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A minstrel sang of brave knights and dragons.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:minstrel:x2:1
# text = A minstrel sang of brave knights and dragons.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	minstrel	minstrel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sang	sing	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	brave	brave	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	knights	knight	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	dragons	dragon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sing** *speech: express* | past | a minstrel |  |  |  |  | of brave knights and dragons | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The children gathered to hear the minstrel.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:minstrel:x3:1
# text = The children gathered to hear the minstrel.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	gathered	gather	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	minstrel	minstrel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **gather** | past | the children |  |  |  |  |  | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **hear** | to-infinitive | the children *not said here* | the minstrel |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer minstrel=Stimulus |

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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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