---
title: sexton — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «sexton» in the school dictionary: A sexton is a church helper who looks after the church and its churchyard, digs graves and rings the bells. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# sexton

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**Who acts:** sexton, church helper, wife · **What happens:** be, look, dig, ring, tell, say · **To what, where:** church helper, graves, bells, bell, grave, churchyard · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A sexton is a church helper who looks after the church and its churchyard, digs graves and rings the bells.

<!-- fold The tree, 20 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:sexton:m1:1
# text = A sexton is a church helper who looks after the church and its churchyard, digs graves and rings the bells.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	sexton	sexton	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	church	church	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	helper	helper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
8	looks	look	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	_
9	after	after	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	church	church	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	churchyard	churchyard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
16	digs	dig	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
17	graves	grave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obj	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	rings	ring	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	bells	bell	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | a sexton | a church helper |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **look** | present | a church helper |  |  |  | after the church and sexton's churchyard |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 3 | **dig** | present | a church helper *not said here* | graves |  |  |  |  | vn poke-19-1-1-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent grave=Theme |
| 4 | **ring** | present | a church helper *not said here* | the bells |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location bell=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 sexton rang the bell at noon.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:sexton:x1:1
# text = The sexton rang the bell at noon.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	sexton	sexton	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	rang	ring	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	bell	bell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	noon	noon	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 | **ring** | past | the sexton | the bell |  |  | noon |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location bell=Theme |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"Now, how can I tell?" said the sexton's wife.

<!-- fold The tree, 10 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:sexton:x2:1
# text = "Now, how can I tell?" said the sexton's wife.
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
4	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
5	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
6	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	sexton	sexton	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	's	's	PART	POS	_	12	case	_	_
14	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | can | the sexton's wife *= wife* |  |  |  | now |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **say** *speech: ask* | past | the sexton's wife |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The sexton dug the grave in the churchyard.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:sexton:x3:1
# text = The sexton dug the grave in the churchyard.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	sexton	sexton	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	dug	dig	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	grave	grave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	churchyard	churchyard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dig** | past | the sexton | the grave |  | the churchyard |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent grave=Theme in churchyard=Location |

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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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