---
title: predicament — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «predicament» in the school dictionary: A predicament is a difficult or awkward situation that is hard to get out of. 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/predicament/)

<!-- 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/) / predicament

# predicament

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** predicament, difficult situation, fox, hounds, river, We · **What happens:** be, get out, come, get, lose, think · **To what, where:** difficult situation, predicament, map, way

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A predicament is a difficult or awkward situation that is hard to get out of.

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:predicament:m1:1
# text = A predicament is a difficult or awkward situation that is hard to get out of.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	predicament	predicament	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
5	difficult	difficult	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
6	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	awkward	awkward	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
8	situation	situation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
9	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	11	nsubj	_	_
10	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
11	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	acl:relcl	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
14	out	out	ADP	IN	_	13	advmod	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | a predicament | a difficult situation |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | present | a difficult situation |  |  |  |  | hard *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **get out** | to-infinitive | a difficult situation *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn withdraw-82-1 «NP V»: 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 -->
The fox was in a predicament: the hounds were coming and the river was too deep.

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:predicament:x1:1
# text = The fox was in a predicament: the hounds were coming and the river was too deep.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	predicament	predicament	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	hounds	hound	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nsubj	_	_
10	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	coming	come	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	appos	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
16	too	too	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	deep	deep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the fox |  |  | a predicament |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **come** | past · progressive | the hounds |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | the river |  |  |  |  | deep *property* | tree rules |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
We got into a predicament when we lost the map.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:predicament:x2:1
# text = We got into a predicament when we lost the map.
1	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	into	into	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	predicament	predicament	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	8	mark	_	_
7	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	lost	lose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	map	map	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | past | We |  |  | a predicament |  |  | vn escape-51.1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme into predicament=Destination |
| 2 | **lose** | past | we | the map |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent map=Eventuality |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Think hard and you will find a way out of this predicament.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:predicament:x3:1
# text = Think hard and you will find a way out of this predicament.
1	Think	think	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	hard	hard	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	1	advmod	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
4	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	1	conj	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	out	out	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	12	det	_	_
12	predicament	predicament	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | hard *property* | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **find** | future | you | a way |  | this predicament |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Topic |

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