---
title: mummery — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «mummery» in the school dictionary: Mummery is a silly, pointless ritual or show, with too much pretence and fuss. 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/mummery/)

<!-- 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/) / mummery

# mummery

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Mummery, old ritual, you · **What happens:** be, show, ask, stop, tell · **To what, where:** silly pointless ritual, much pretence, mummery, Councillor, him, truth · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Mummery is a silly, pointless ritual or show, with too much pretence and fuss.

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:mummery:m1:1
# text = Mummery is a silly, pointless ritual or show, with too much pretence and fuss.
1	Mummery	mummery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
4	silly	silly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	pointless	pointless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	ritual	ritual	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
8	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	show	show	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	with	with	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	too	too	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	pretence	pretence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	fuss	fuss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | Mummery | a silly pointless ritual |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **show** | infinitive | Mummery *not said here* | much pretence and fuss |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent pretence=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 -->
"What is all this mummery?" asked the Councillor.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:mummery:x1:1
# text = "What is all this mummery?" asked the Councillor.
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	6	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	6	det:predet	_	_
5	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	det	_	_
6	mummery	mummery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
9	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	Councillor	Councillor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present |  | all mummery |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | all mummery |  | the Councillor |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent councillor=Recipient |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The old ritual was just mummery to him.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:mummery:x2:1
# text = The old ritual was just mummery to him.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	ritual	ritual	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	just	just	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	mummery	mummery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the old ritual | mummery | him *= he* |  |  |  | tree rules |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Stop the mummery and tell me the truth.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:mummery:x3:1
# text = Stop the mummery and tell me the truth.
1	Stop	stop	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	mummery	mummery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	tell	tell	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	1	conj	_	_
6	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	iobj	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	truth	truth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | imperative | you *not said here* | the mummery |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality mummery=Eventuality |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | infinitive | you *not said here* | the truth | me |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent i=Recipient truth=Topic |

<!-- 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: [mumble](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mumble/)
- next →: [mummification](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mummification/)
- ↑ back to [M in school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/)