---
title: skittish — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «skittish» in the school dictionary: Easily frightened, nervous and jumpy, ready to run off at any noise. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# skittish

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**Who acts:** skittish pony, rabbits, you, dog · **What happens:** frighten, run off, shy, bolt, jump, be · **To what, where:** noise, sound, you

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Easily frightened, nervous and jumpy, ready to run off at any noise.

<!-- fold The tree, 12 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:skittish:m1:1
# text = Easily frightened, nervous and jumpy, ready to run off at any noise.
1	Easily	easily	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	frightened	frighten	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	nervous	nervous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	jumpy	jumpy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	ready	ready	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	run	run	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	off	off	ADP	RP	_	10	compound:prt	_	_
12	at	at	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	14	det	_	_
14	noise	noise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **frighten** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | easily *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **run off** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | any noise |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at noise=Trajectory |

<!-- .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 -->
Of a horse, lively and likely to shy or bolt.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:skittish:m2:1
# text = Of a horse, lively and likely to shy or bolt.
1	Of	of	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	lively	lively	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	likely	likely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	shy	shy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
10	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	bolt	bolt	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shy** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **bolt** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The skittish pony jumped at the sound of the bell.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:skittish:x1:1
# text = The skittish pony jumped at the sound of the bell.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	skittish	skittish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	pony	pony	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	jumped	jump	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	sound	sound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	bell	bell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **jump** | past | the skittish pony |  |  | the sound of the bell |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at sound=Trajectory |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The rabbits were skittish and ran at every noise.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:skittish:x2:1
# text = The rabbits were skittish and ran at every noise.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	rabbits	rabbit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	skittish	skittish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
7	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	9	det	_	_
9	noise	noise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the rabbits |  |  |  |  | skittish *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **run** | past | the rabbits *not said here* |  |  | every noise |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at noise=Trajectory |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Don't be skittish; the dog will not bite you.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:skittish:x3:1
# text = Don't be skittish; the dog will not bite you.
1	Do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	n't	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
3	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	cop	_	_
4	skittish	skittish	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	1	csubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
8	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
9	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
10	bite	bite	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
11	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **is** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | skittish *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **bite** | future | the dog | you |  |  |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent you=Patient |

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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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