---
title: touchstone — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «touchstone» in the school dictionary: A dark stone that people once rubbed gold on to test whether it was real. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# touchstone

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** people, dark stone, stone, Something, goldsmith, touchstone · **What happens:** rub, test, be, use, judge, show · **To what, where:** that, other things, metal, touchstone, fairy tale · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A dark stone that people once rubbed gold on to test whether it was real.

<!-- fold The tree, 15 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:touchstone:m1:1
# text = A dark stone that people once rubbed gold on to test whether it was real.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
4	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	7	obj	_	_
5	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
6	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	7	advmod	_	_
7	rubbed	rub	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	advcl	_	_
8	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
9	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	test	test	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
12	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
15	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **rub** | past | people | that |  |  |  | once *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **test** | to-infinitive | a dark stone |  |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | past | stone |  |  |  |  | real *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 -->
Something you use as a standard to judge other things by.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:touchstone:m2:1
# text = Something you use as a standard to judge other things by.
1	Something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	3	nsubj	_	_
2	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	use	use	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	as	as	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	standard	standard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	judge	judge	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
9	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
11	by	by	ADP	IN	_	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | present | Something |  |  |  |  | as a standard | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **judge** | to-infinitive | Something *not said here* | other things |  |  |  |  | vn estimate-34.2-1-1 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Agent thing=Value |

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The goldsmith rubbed the metal on the touchstone to test it.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:touchstone:x1:1
# text = The goldsmith rubbed the metal on the touchstone to test it.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	goldsmith	goldsmith	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	rubbed	rub	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	metal	metal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	touchstone	touchstone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	test	test	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **rub** | past | the goldsmith | the metal |  | the touchstone |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent metal=Theme on touchstone=Destination |
| 2 | **test** | to-infinitive | the goldsmith *not said here* | metal |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In the fairy tale the touchstone showed that the coins were fake.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:touchstone:x2:1
# text = In the fairy tale the touchstone showed that the coins were fake.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	fairy	fairy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	tale	tale	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	touchstone	touchstone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	showed	show	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	coins	coin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
11	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
12	fake	fake	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **show** | past | the touchstone |  |  | the fairy tale |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | past | the coins |  |  |  |  | fake *property* | tree rules |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Her kind deeds were a touchstone for how we should behave.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:touchstone:x3:1
# text = Her kind deeds were a touchstone for how we should behave.
1	Her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	kind	kind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	deeds	deed	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	touchstone	touchstone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
8	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	11	advmod	_	_
9	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	behave	behave	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | Her kind deeds | a touchstone |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **behave** | should | we |  |  |  |  |  | vn masquerade-29.6-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: 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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