---
title: surety — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «surety» in the school dictionary: A surety is a promise to pay or do something if another person fails, or the person who makes such a promise. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# surety

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**Who acts:** surety, person, you, Two sureties, sureties · **What happens:** be, pay, do, fail, make, say · **To what, where:** promise, something, Surety certainty, sureties · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A surety is a promise to pay or do something if another person fails, or the person who makes such a promise.

<!-- fold The tree, 22 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:surety:m1:1
# text = A surety is a promise to pay or do something if another person fails, or the person who makes such a promise.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	surety	surety	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	promise	promise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	pay	pay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	acl	_	_
8	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
10	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	9	obj	_	_
11	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
12	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	13	det	_	_
13	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	fails	fail	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
19	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	20	nsubj	_	_
20	makes	make	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	acl:relcl	_	_
21	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	23	det:predet	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	promise	promise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | a surety | a promise or the person |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **pay** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **do** | infinitive |  | something |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent something=Eventuality |
| 4 | **fail** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | another person |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **make** | present | the person | such promise |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent promise=Product |

<!-- .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}

<!-- .note -->
Usage: old use — kept apart, not parsed.

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Surety is certainty, something you can be sure of.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:surety:m2:1
# text = Surety is certainty, something you can be sure of.
1	Surety	surety	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	certainty	certainty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
5	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	3	appos	_	_
6	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
7	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	cop	_	_
9	sure	sure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	acl:relcl	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present |  | Surety certainty |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | can | you |  |  |  |  | sure *property* | tree rules |

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Two sureties are better than one.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:surety:x1:1
# text = Two sureties are better than one.
1	Two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	sureties	surety	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
5	than	than	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | Two sureties |  |  |  |  | than one; good *property* | tree rules |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«Who are the sureties?» said Fionn.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:surety:x2:1
# text = «Who are the sureties?» said Fionn.
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	sureties	surety	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
8	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	Fionn	Fionn	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present |  | the sureties |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **say** *speech: ask* | past | the sureties |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |

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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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