---
title: pitiful — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «pitiful» in the school dictionary: Pitiful means making you feel sorry for someone. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# pitiful

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**Who acts:** Pitiful, you, Pinocchio, lost kitten, effort, he · **What happens:** mean, make, feel, tell, lose, give · **To what, where:** you, pitiful tale, pitiful mew, one goal · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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«pitiful» in the school dictionary: its 2 meanings 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: [pitiful in the school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/pitiful.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Pitiful means making you feel sorry for someone.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:pitiful:m1:1
# text = Pitiful means making you feel sorry for someone.
1	Pitiful	pitiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	nsubj	_	_
2	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	making	make	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	xcomp	_	_
4	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	feel	feel	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	sorry	sorry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	xcomp	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | Pitiful |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **make** *not said to happen* | gerund | Pitiful *not said here* | you |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **feel** *not said to happen* | infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | sorry *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |

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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.

## Meaning 2 {#m2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Pitiful can also mean very poor or useless: a pitiful effort.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:pitiful:m2:1
# text = Pitiful can also mean very poor or useless: a pitiful effort.
1	Pitiful	pitiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	also	also	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	very	very	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	ccomp	_	_
7	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	useless	useless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	pitiful	pitiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	effort	effort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | can | Pitiful |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Pinocchio told his pitiful tale.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:pitiful:x1:1
# text = Pinocchio told his pitiful tale.
1	Pinocchio	Pinocchio	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
4	pitiful	pitiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	tale	tale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Pinocchio | Pinocchio's pitiful tale |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent tale=Recipient |
| 2 | **tell** |  | Pinocchio |  |  |  |  |  | nom tale «communication intransitive»: poss=agent |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The lost kitten gave a pitiful mew.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:pitiful:x2:1
# text = The lost kitten gave a pitiful mew.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	lost	lose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	amod	_	_
3	kitten	kitten	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	pitiful	pitiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	mew	mew	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lose** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **give** | past | the lost kitten | a pitiful mew |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mew=Theme |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His effort was pitiful; he scored only one goal.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:pitiful:x3:1
# text = His effort was pitiful; he scored only one goal.
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	effort	effort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	pitiful	pitiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	scored	score	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
8	only	only	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
10	goal	goal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | His effort |  |  |  |  | pitiful *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **score** | past | he | one goal |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent goal=Theme |

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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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