---
title: publican — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «publican» in the school dictionary: A publican is a person who owns or runs a pub, where people go to drink and talk. 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/publican/)

<!-- 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/) / publican

# publican

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** publican, person, people, We · **What happens:** be, own, run, go, drink, talk · **To what, where:** person, pub, ale, travellers, nothing, publican · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A publican is a person who owns or runs a pub, where people go to drink and talk.

<!-- fold The tree, 18 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:publican:m1:1
# text = A publican is a person who owns or runs a pub, where people go to drink and talk.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	publican	publican	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
7	owns	own	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
8	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	runs	run	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	pub	pub	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	15	advmod	_	_
14	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj	_	_
15	go	go	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	acl:relcl	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	drink	drink	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	talk	talk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | a publican | a person |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **own** | present | a person |  |  |  |  |  | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot |
| 3 | **run** | present | a person *not said here* | a pub |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme pub=Trajectory |
| 4 | **go** | present | people |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **drink** | to-infinitive | people *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **talk** | infinitive | people *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «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 publican served ale to the travellers.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:publican:x1:1
# text = The publican served ale to the travellers.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	publican	publican	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	served	serve	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	ale	ale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	travellers	traveller	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **serve** | past | the publican | ale | the travellers |  |  |  | vn fulfilling-13.4.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent ale=Theme to traveller=Recipient |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The publican said nothing about the stranger.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:publican:x2:1
# text = The publican said nothing about the stranger.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	publican	publican	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	3	obj	_	_
5	about	about	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	stranger	stranger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the publican | nothing |  |  |  | about the stranger | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent nothing=Topic |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
We asked the publican for a room for the night.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:publican:x3:1
# text = We asked the publican for a room for the night.
1	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	publican	publican	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	room	room	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | We | the publican |  |  | night | for a room | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent publican=Recipient |

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