--- title: Words are not frozen: over hundreds of years their meanings drift, l… — Words that changed their meaning · tree and pragmatics description: Words are not frozen: over hundreds of years their meanings drift, like boats slowly carried along by a river, so an old book can use a word you know in a way that surprises you. Who acts: meanings, old book, you, way. A sentence of the lesson «Words that changed their meaning» of the language cours --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/38-words-that-changed-their-meaning/0/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Language](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/) / [Words that changed their meaning](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/38-words-that-changed-their-meaning/) / 0 # Words that changed their meaning, sentence 0 Words are not frozen: over hundreds of years their meanings drift, like boats slowly carried along by a river, so an old book can use a word you know in a way that surprises you. **Who acts:** meanings, old book, you, way, Words · **What happens:** not freeze, drift, carry, use, know, surprise · **To what, where:** Words, hundreds, boats, word, way, you This is a sentence of the lesson «Words that changed their meaning» of the language course of Mova's primary school. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (meanings, old book, you, way), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = school:language:038-words-that-changed-their-meaning.lesson:0 # text = Words are not frozen: over hundreds of years their meanings drift, like boats slowly carried along by a river, so an old book can use a word you know in a way that surprises you. # source = school lesson (ours) # course = language # lesson = 038-words-that-changed-their-meaning.lesson # annotation = Mova annot: Rust (en) → Haiku 5.5 (medium, Batches API) patches; gates UD 2.18; agreed by treeagree rules (Stanza, Trankit, spaCy trf): R7-rel-agree ×1 1 Words word NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 nsubj:pass _ _ 2 are be AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 4 aux:pass _ _ 3 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 4 advmod _ _ 4 frozen freeze VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ _ 5 : : PUNCT : _ 4 punct _ _ 6 over over ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 7 hundreds hundred NOUN NNS Number=Plur 12 obl _ _ 8 of of ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 9 years year NOUN NNS Number=Plur 7 nmod _ _ 10 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 11 nmod:poss _ _ 11 meanings meaning NOUN NNS Number=Plur 12 nsubj _ _ 12 drift drift VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 13 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 14 like like ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 15 boats boat NOUN NNS Number=Plur 12 obl _ _ 16 slowly slowly ADV RB _ 17 advmod _ _ 17 carried carry VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 15 acl _ _ 18 along along ADV RB _ 17 advmod _ _ 19 by by ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 20 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 21 river river NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obl _ _ 22 , , PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 23 so so ADV RB _ 28 advmod _ _ 24 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 25 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 26 amod _ _ 26 book book NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 nsubj _ _ 27 can can AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 28 aux _ _ 28 use use VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 parataxis _ Agree=R7-rel-agree|Haiku=4:advcl 29 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 30 word word NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 obj _ _ 31 you you PRON PRP Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs 32 nsubj _ _ 32 know know VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 30 acl:relcl _ _ 33 in in ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 34 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 35 way way NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 obl _ _ 36 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 37 nsubj _ _ 37 surprises surprise VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 35 acl:relcl _ _ 38 you you PRON PRP Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs 37 obj _ _ 39 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} No stored speech act for this sentence. | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **not** **freeze** | present · passive | | Words | | | | | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Result | | 2 | **drift** | present | Words's meanings | | | hundreds of years | | like boats | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over hundred=Trajectory | | 3 | **carry** | participle | | boats *not said here* | | | | by a river; along, slowly *property* | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **use** | can | a old book | a word | | a way | | | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Patient | | 5 | **know** | present | you | a word *not said here* | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer word=Stimulus | | 6 | **surprise** | present | a way | you | | | | | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus you=Experiencer | | 7 | **mean** | | Words *= word* | | | | | | nom meaning «communication transitive»: poss=agent | 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. **Licence: [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)**, as the whole of Mova corpus 0.4, of which this treebank (the agreed school, `mova-school-agreed-en.conllu`) is part. The lessons were written for Mova's primary school. Sentence `school:language:038-words-that-changed-their-meaning.lesson:0`. **The tree:** Mova annot: Rust (en) → Haiku 5.5 (medium, Batches API) patches; gates UD 2.18; agreed by treeagree rules (Stanza, Trankit, spaCy trf): R7-rel-agree ×1. **The frames** are read from the tree by Mova's frames reader (`prag`) when this page is built, the lesson read in order, so a pronoun may be resolved from an earlier sentence. See the [release 0.4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/releases/0.4/). - ← previous: [Building words: prefixes, suffixes and…, 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/37-building-words-prefixes-suffixes-and-compounds/15/) - next →: [Words that changed their meaning, 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/38-words-that-changed-their-meaning/1/) - ↑ back to [the lesson](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/38-words-that-changed-their-meaning/)