---
title: numskull — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «numskull» in the school dictionary: A stupid or foolish person who is slow to understand. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# numskull

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**Who acts:** stupid person, you, giant, numskull · **What happens:** be, understand, do, not be, forget, name · **To what, where:** numskull, slow numskull, own name

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A stupid or foolish person who is slow to understand.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:numskull:m1:1
# text = A stupid or foolish person who is slow to understand.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
2	stupid	stupid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
3	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	foolish	foolish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	_
5	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
6	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
7	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	slow	slow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | a stupid person |  |  |  |  | slow *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **understand** | to-infinitive | a stupid person *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

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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 -->
Don't be such a numskull!

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:numskull:x1:1
# text = Don't be such a numskull!
1	Do	do	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	cop	_	_
4	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	6	det:predet	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	numskull	numskull	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **is a** | infinitive |  | such numskull |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The giant was a slow numskull.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:numskull:x2:1
# text = The giant was a slow numskull.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	giant	giant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	slow	slow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	numskull	numskull	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the giant | a slow numskull |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Only a numskull would forget his own name.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:numskull:x3:1
# text = Only a numskull would forget his own name.
1	Only	only	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	numskull	numskull	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	forget	forget	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
7	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **forget** | would | a numskull | numskull's own name |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **name** |  | numskull |  |  |  |  |  | nom name «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

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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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