---
title: willful — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «willful» in the school dictionary: Willful means stubborn, doing what you want and refusing to be told. (US spelling of «wilful»). Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# willful

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Willful, you, She, willful girl, willful goat, willful boy · **What happens:** mean, do, want, refuse, not tell, be · **To what, where:** willful girl · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Willful means stubborn, doing what you want and refusing to be told. (US spelling of «wilful»).

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Willful means stubborn, doing what you want and refusing to be told.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:willful:m1:1
# text = Willful means stubborn, doing what you want and refusing to be told.
1	Willful	willful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	nsubj	_	_
2	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	stubborn	stubborn	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
5	doing	do	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	parataxis	_	_
6	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	8	obj	_	_
7	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	want	want	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	ccomp	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	refusing	refuse	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	conj	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
12	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	aux:pass	_	_
13	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present | Willful |  |  |  |  | stubborn *property* | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **do** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **want** | present | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot what=Theme |
| 4 | **refuse** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 5 | **not** **tell** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive · passive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V» |

<!-- .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:* (US spelling of «wilful»).

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:willful:m1:2
# text = (US spelling of «wilful»).
1	(	(	PUNCT	-LRB-	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	US	US	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	spelling	spelling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	wilful	wilful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	)	)	PUNCT	-RRB-	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

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

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She was a willful girl who never listened to her mother.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:willful:x1:1
# text = She was a willful girl who never listened to her mother.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	willful	willful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
7	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
8	listened	listen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | She | a willful girl |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **listen** | past | a willful girl |  |  |  |  | to girl's mother | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to mother=Theme |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The willful goat would not come home.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:willful:x2:1
# text = The willful goat would not come home.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	willful	willful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	goat	goat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	home	home	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **come** | would | the willful goat |  |  |  |  | home *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"You willful boy, come here at once!"

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:willful:x3:1
# text = "You willful boy, come here at once!"
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	You	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	willful	willful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	acl	_	_
7	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	6	advmod	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** *in a quote* | infinitive | willful boy *not said here* |  |  | here |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at once=Location |

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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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