---
title: prying — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «prying» in the school dictionary: Prying means too curious about other people's business, and always wanting to find out secrets. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# prying

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** prying boy, Nobody, you · **What happens:** pry, mean, want, find out, look, like · **To what, where:** secrets, neighbours, own business · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Prying means too curious about other people's business, and always wanting to find out secrets.

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:prying:m1:1
# text = Prying means too curious about other people's business, and always wanting to find out secrets.
1	Prying	pry	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	nsubj	_	_
2	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	too	too	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	curious	curious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
5	about	about	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	's	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	business	business	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
12	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	13	advmod	_	_
13	wanting	want	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	ccomp	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	_
16	out	out	ADP	RP	_	15	compound:prt	_	_
17	secrets	secret	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pry** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **mean** | present |  |  |  |  |  | curious *property* | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **want** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | always *property* | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 4 | **find out** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | secrets |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent secret=Topic |

<!-- .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 prying boy looked in every drawer.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:prying:x1:1
# text = The prying boy looked in every drawer.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	prying	prying	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	7	det	_	_
7	drawer	drawer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **look** | past | the prying boy |  |  |  |  | in every drawer | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in drawer=Theme |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nobody likes prying neighbours.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:prying:x2:1
# text = Nobody likes prying neighbours.
1	Nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	2	nsubj	_	_
2	likes	like	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	prying	pry	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	xcomp	_	_
4	neighbours	neighbour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **like** | present | Nobody |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **pry** *not said to happen* | gerund | Nobody *not said here* | neighbours |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent neighbour=Recipient |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Stop being so prying and mind your own business.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:prying:x3:1
# text = Stop being so prying and mind your own business.
1	Stop	stop	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	nsubj	_	_
3	so	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	prying	pry	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	1	xcomp	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	mind	mind	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	1	conj	_	_
7	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
8	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	business	business	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **pry** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **mind** | infinitive | you *not said here* | your own business |  |  |  |  | vn caring-75.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent business=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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