---
title: potsherd — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «potsherd» in the school dictionary: A broken piece of an old clay pot or dish, often found in the ground. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# potsherd

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**Who acts:** She, archaeologist, He · **What happens:** break, find, ask, see, give · **To what, where:** broken piece, ground, potsherd, field, lad

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A broken piece of an old clay pot or dish, often found in the ground.

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:potsherd:m1:1
# text = A broken piece of an old clay pot or dish, often found in the ground.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	broken	break	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	amod	_	_
3	piece	piece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
5	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
7	clay	clay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	pot	pot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
9	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	dish	dish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	often	often	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **break** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **find** | participle |  | a broken piece of a old clay pot or dish *not said here* |  | the ground |  | often *property* | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 -->
She asked to see the potsherd.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:potsherd:x1:1
# text = She asked to see the potsherd.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	potsherd	potsherd	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | She |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **see** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | She *not said here* | the potsherd |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer potsherd=Stimulus |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The archaeologist found a potsherd in the field.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:potsherd:x2:1
# text = The archaeologist found a potsherd in the field.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	archaeologist	archaeologist	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	potsherd	potsherd	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	field	field	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **find** | past | the archaeologist | a potsherd |  | the field |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent potsherd=Topic |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He gave the lad a piece of broken potsherd.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:potsherd:x3:1
# text = He gave the lad a piece of broken potsherd.
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	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	lad	lad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	piece	piece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	broken	break	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	amod	_	_
9	potsherd	potsherd	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | past | He | the lad |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent lad=Recipient piece=Theme |
| 2 | **break** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |

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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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