---
title: retract — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «retract» in the school dictionary: To retract is to take back something you have said or agreed to. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# retract

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** you, cat, They, I · **What happens:** retract, be, say, agree, draw, not retract · **To what, where:** body, claws, bargain · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
«retract» in the school dictionary: its 2 meanings 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: [retract in the school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/retract.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To retract is to take back something you have said or agreed to.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:retract:m1:1
# text = To retract is to take back something you have said or agreed to.
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	retract	retract	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	take	take	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	back	back	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	5	obj	_	_
8	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	acl:relcl	_	_
11	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	agreed	agree	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	10	conj	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **retract** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | present |  |  |  |  |  | take *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | present · perfect | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **agree** *speech: agree* | participle | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn correspond-36.1-1 «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.

## Meaning 2 {#m2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To retract is to pull back into the body or case, as a cat draws in its claws.

<!-- fold The tree, 18 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:retract:m2:1
# text = To retract is to pull back into the body or case, as a cat draws in its claws.
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	retract	retract	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	csubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	pull	pull	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	back	back	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	into	into	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
10	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	case	case	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
16	draws	draw	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	claws	claw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **retract** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | present |  |  |  | the body or case |  | pull *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **draw** | present | a cat |  |  | cat's claws |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in claw=Destination |

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They could not retract the bargain.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:retract:x1:1
# text = They could not retract the bargain.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	retract	retract	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	bargain	bargain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **retract** | could | They | the bargain |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bargain=Theme |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I wish to retract what I said.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:retract:x2:1
# text = I wish to retract what I said.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	wish	wish	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	retract	retract	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	7	obj	_	_
6	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wish** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **retract** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent what=Topic |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The cat can retract its claws.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:retract:x3:1
# text = The cat can retract its claws.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	retract	retract	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	claws	claw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **retract** | can | the cat | cat's claws |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent claw=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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