---
title: vassal — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «vassal» in the school dictionary: A vassal was, in old times, a person who served a lord and owed him loyalty and work. It is an old word. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# vassal

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**Who acts:** vassal, person, Katoda, vassals · **What happens:** be, serve, owe, bow, obey, give · **To what, where:** lord, loyalty, person, old word, vassal, mistress

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A vassal was, in old times, a person who served a lord and owed him loyalty and work. It is an old word.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* A vassal was, in old times, a person who served a lord and owed him loyalty and work.

<!-- fold The tree, 18 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:vassal:m1:1
# text = A vassal was, in old times, a person who served a lord and owed him loyalty and work.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	vassal	vassal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	appos	_	_
11	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	12	nsubj	_	_
12	served	serve	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	acl:relcl	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	lord	lord	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	owed	owe	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
17	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	iobj	_	_
18	loyalty	loyalty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | a vassal |  |  |  | in old times |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **serve** | past | a person | a lord |  |  |  |  | vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lord=Attribute |
| 3 | **owe** | past | a person *not said here* | loyalty and work | person |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.goal NP»: agent=Agent he=Goal loyalty=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.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* It is an old word.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:vassal:m1:2
# text = It is an old word.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	word	word	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | vassal | a old word |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The vassal bowed before his lord.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:vassal:x1:1
# text = The vassal bowed before his lord.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	vassal	vassal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
3	bowed	bow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	acl	_	_
4	before	before	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	lord	lord	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **bow** | participle |  | the vassal *not said here* |  |  | before his lord |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent before lord=Location |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Katoda was a vassal who obeyed her mistress.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:vassal:x2:1
# text = Katoda was a vassal who obeyed her mistress.
1	Katoda	Katoda	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	vassal	vassal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	6	nsubj	_	_
6	obeyed	obey	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
7	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	mistress	mistress	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Katoda |  |  |  |  | vassal *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **obey** | past |  | Katoda's mistress |  |  |  |  | vn abide\_by-93.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mistress=Theme |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The vassals gave the king their loyalty.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:vassal:x3:1
# text = The vassals gave the king their loyalty.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	vassals	vassal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	loyalty	loyalty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | past | the vassals | vassals's loyalty | the king |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent king=Recipient loyalty=Theme |

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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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