---
title: precipice — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «precipice» in the school dictionary: A precipice is a very steep cliff or drop, with a sheer face going down a long way. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# precipice

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**Who acts:** precipice, sheer face, goat, you, donkey · **What happens:** be, go down, stand, not walk, run, fall · **To what, where:** steep cliff, long way, narrow ledge, precipice

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A precipice is a very steep cliff or drop, with a sheer face going down a long way.

<!-- fold The tree, 18 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:precipice:m1:1
# text = A precipice is a very steep cliff or drop, with a sheer face going down a long way.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	precipice	precipice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	very	very	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	steep	steep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	cliff	cliff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
8	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	drop	drop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	with	with	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	sheer	sheer	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
15	going	go	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	14	acl	_	_
16	down	down	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | a precipice | a steep cliff or drop and a sheer face |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **go down** | gerund | a sheer face *not said here* | a long way |  |  |  | down *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

<!-- .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 goat stood on a narrow ledge above the precipice.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:precipice:x1:1
# text = The goat stood on a narrow ledge above the precipice.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	goat	goat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	narrow	narrow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	ledge	ledge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
8	above	above	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	precipice	precipice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand** | past | the goat |  |  | a narrow ledge above the precipice |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on ledge=Location |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Never walk too close to the edge of a precipice.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:precipice:x2:1
# text = Never walk too close to the edge of a precipice.
1	Never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	2	advmod	_	_
2	walk	walk	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	too	too	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	close	close	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	advcl	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	edge	edge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	precipice	precipice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **walk** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The donkey ran so fast that it nearly fell over the precipice.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:precipice:x3:1
# text = The donkey ran so fast that it nearly fell over the precipice.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	donkey	donkey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	so	so	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	3	advmod	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
10	over	over	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	precipice	precipice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **run** | past | the donkey |  |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **fall** | past | donkey |  |  | the precipice |  | nearly *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme over precipice=Location |

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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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