---
title: puny — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «puny» in the school dictionary: Puny means small and weak, not strong or big. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# puny

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**Who acts:** Puny, puny lion, puny puppy, Tom, Dad, puny plant · **What happens:** mean, not frighten, not lift, feel, say, need · **To what, where:** small, anyone, stick, more sun. · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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«puny» in the school dictionary: its 2 meanings for a pupil and its 4 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: [puny in the school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/puny.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Puny means small and weak, not strong or big.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:puny:m1:1
# text = Puny means small and weak, not strong or big.
1	Puny	puny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	nsubj	_	_
2	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	obj	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	weak	weak	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
8	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
9	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | Puny | small |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent small=Topic |

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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.

## Meaning 2 {#m2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Puny can mean small and of little importance.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:puny:m2:1
# text = Puny can mean small and of little importance.
1	Puny	Puny	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	importance	importance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | can | Puny |  |  |  |  | small *property* | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A puny lion would not frighten anyone.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:puny:x1:1
# text = A puny lion would not frighten anyone.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	puny	puny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	lion	lion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	frighten	frighten	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **frighten** | would | a puny lion | anyone |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus anyone=Experiencer |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The puny puppy could not lift the stick.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:puny:x2:1
# text = The puny puppy could not lift the stick.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	puny	puny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	puppy	puppy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	lift	lift	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	stick	stick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **lift** | could | the puny puppy | the stick |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent stick=Theme |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Tom felt puny after his long illness.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:puny:x3:1
# text = Tom felt puny after his long illness.
1	Tom	Tom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	felt	feel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	puny	puny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
4	after	after	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
6	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	illness	illness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **feel** | past | Tom |  |  |  | after Tom's long illness | puny *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |

## Example 4 {#x4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Dad said the puny plant needed more sun.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:puny:x4:1
# text = Dad said the puny plant needed more sun.
1	Dad	dad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	puny	puny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	plant	plant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	needed	need	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
7	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	8	amod	_	_
8	sun.	sun.	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Dad |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **need** | past | the puny plant | more sun. |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot sun.=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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