---
title: watchman — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «watchman» in the school dictionary: A watchman is a person paid to stay awake and guard a building or street at night. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/watchman/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [dictionaries](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/) / [school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/) / [W](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/) / watchman

# watchman

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** watchman, old watchman, hour · **What happens:** be, pay, stay, guard, call out, ask · **To what, where:** person, building, someone, time, town, watchman · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A watchman is a person paid to stay awake and guard a building or street at night.

<!-- fold The tree, 17 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:watchman:m1:1
# text = A watchman is a person paid to stay awake and guard a building or street at night.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	watchman	watchman	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	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	paid	pay	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	stay	stay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	awake	awake	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	xcomp	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	guard	guard	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	conj	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	building	building	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	street	street	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	conj	_	_
16	at	at	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | a watchman | a person |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **pay** | participle |  | a person *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **stay** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | awake *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **guard** | infinitive |  | a building or street |  |  | at night |  | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent building=Beneficiary |

<!-- .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 -->
An old watchman was also someone who called out the time of night in a town.

<!-- fold The tree, 16 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:watchman:m2:1
# text = An old watchman was also someone who called out the time of night in a town.
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	watchman	watchman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	also	also	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	someone	someone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	0	root	_	_
7	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
8	called	call	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	_
9	out	out	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	xcomp	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | a old watchman | someone |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **call out** *speech: assert* | past |  | the time of night |  | a town |  |  | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why, at the old watchman's house.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:watchman:x1:1
# text = Why, at the old watchman's house.
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	watchman	watchman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	's	's	PART	POS	_	6	case	_	_
8	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So then the watchman was again watchman.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:watchman:x2:1
# text = So then the watchman was again watchman.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	7	advmod	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	watchman	watchman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	again	again	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	watchman	watchman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the watchman | watchman |  |  | then; again |  | tree rules |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«What's the hour, watchman?» asked a passer-by.

<!-- fold The tree, 9 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:watchman:x3:1
# text = «What's the hour, watchman?» asked a passer-by.
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	hour	hour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	watchman	watchman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
10	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	passer	passer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	by	by	ADP	IN	_	12	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present |  | the hour and watchman |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the hour and watchman |  | a passer |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent passer=Recipient |

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [watchfulness](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/watchfulness/)
- next →: [water](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/water/)
- ↑ back to [W in school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/)