---
title: scrivener — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «scrivener» in the school dictionary: A scrivener was a person whose job was to write and copy documents for other people, a kind of clerk who wrote out legal papers. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# scrivener

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**Who acts:** scrivener, job, clerk, old scrivener · **What happens:** be, copy, write out, write, come · **To what, where:** person, documents, legal papers, papers, house, neat letters

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

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Usage: old use — kept apart, not parsed.

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A scrivener was a person whose job was to write and copy documents for other people, a kind of clerk who wrote out legal papers.

<!-- fold The tree, 25 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:scrivener:m1:1
# text = A scrivener was a person whose job was to write and copy documents for other people, a kind of clerk who wrote out legal papers.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	scrivener	scrivener	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|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	whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	job	job	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	write	write	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	acl:relcl	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	copy	copy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	conj	_	_
13	documents	document	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	_
14	for	for	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	kind	kind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	clerk	clerk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	_
22	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	23	nsubj	_	_
23	wrote	write	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	acl:relcl	_	_
24	out	out	ADP	RP	_	23	compound:prt	_	_
25	legal	legal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	papers	paper	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | a scrivener | a person and a kind of clerk |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | past | job |  |  |  |  | write *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **copy** | infinitive | job *not said here* | documents |  |  |  | for other people | vn scribble-25.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent document=Theme |
| 4 | **write out** | past | clerk | legal papers |  |  |  |  | vn transcribe-25.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent paper=Theme |

<!-- .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 scrivener wrote the papers by hand.

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

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **write** | past | the scrivener | the papers |  |  |  | by hand | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent paper=Theme |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Neither the scrivener nor the lawyer came to the house.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:scrivener:x2:1
# text = Neither the scrivener nor the lawyer came to the house.
1	Neither	neither	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	7	cc:preconj	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	scrivener	scrivener	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
4	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	6	cc	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	lawyer	lawyer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
7	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | the scrivener nor the lawyer |  |  | the house |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to house=Initial\_Location |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The old scrivener copied the will in neat letters.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:scrivener:x3:1
# text = The old scrivener copied the will in neat letters.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	scrivener	scrivener	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	copied	copy	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	neat	neat	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	letters	letter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **copy** | past | the old scrivener |  |  | neat letters |  |  | vn scribble-25.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in letter=Destination |

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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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