---
title: paltry — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «paltry» in the school dictionary: Paltry means very small, too little to be worth much: a paltry sum of money. 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/P/paltry/)

<!-- 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/) / [P](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/) / paltry

# paltry

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Paltry, king, He, It · **What happens:** mean, be, sum, offer, lose, give · **To what, where:** small, money, paltry reward, paltry handful, her, paltry risk

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Paltry means very small, too little to be worth much: a paltry sum of money.

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:paltry:m1:1
# text = Paltry means very small, too little to be worth much: a paltry sum of money.
1	Paltry	Paltry	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	very	very	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
6	too	too	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	advmod	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
9	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	cop	_	_
10	worth	worth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	_
11	much	much	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	15	punct	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	paltry	paltry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	sum	sum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	parataxis	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	money	money	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | Paltry | small |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent small=Topic |
| 2 | **is** | to-infinitive | Paltry *not said here* |  |  |  |  | worth *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **sum** |  |  | money |  |  |  |  | nom sum «possession transitive»: of=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 king offered a paltry reward for the lost cow.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:paltry:x1:1
# text = The king offered a paltry reward for the lost cow.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	offered	offer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	paltry	paltry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	reward	reward	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	lost	lose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	amod	_	_
10	cow	cow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **offer** | past | the king | a paltry reward |  |  |  | for the lost cow *goal* | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent reward=Theme for cow=Goal |
| 2 | **lose** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He gave her a paltry handful of coins.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:paltry:x2:1
# text = He gave her a paltry handful of coins.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	iobj	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	paltry	paltry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	handful	handful	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	coins	coin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | past | He | a paltry handful of coins | her *= she* |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent she=Recipient handful=Theme |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was a paltry risk, not worth worrying about.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:paltry:x3:1
# text = It was a paltry risk, not worth worrying about.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	paltry	paltry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	risk	risk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
8	worth	worth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
9	worrying	worry	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	xcomp	_	_
10	about	about	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | It | a paltry risk |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **worry** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | about *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |

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