aback
Who acts: Sam, my, news, sharp words · What happens: take, mean, be, shock, throw off, shout · To what, where: you, I, name, She, little bird, Dad · Speech: someone speaks here
«aback» in the school dictionary: its meaning for a pupil and its 4 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: aback in the school dictionary.
Meaning 1
To be taken aback means to be surprised or shocked by something unexpected, so that you are thrown off balance.
The tree, 20 words
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | To | to | PART | _ | 3 taken | mark |
| 2 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 3 taken | aux:pass |
| 3 | taken | take | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 5 means | nsubj |
| 4 | aback | aback | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 taken | xcomp |
| 5 | means | mean | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | to | to | PART | _ | 8 surprised | mark |
| 7 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 8 surprised | cop |
| 8 | surprised | surprised | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 means | ccomp |
| 9 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 10 shocked | cc |
| 10 | shocked | shock | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 8 surprised | conj |
| 11 | by | by | ADP | _ | 12 something | case |
| 12 | something | something | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Ind | 10 shocked | obl |
| 13 | unexpected | unexpected | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 12 something | amod |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 19 thrown | punct |
| 15 | so | so | SCONJ | ExtPos=SCONJ | 19 thrown | mark |
| 16 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 15 so | fixed |
| 17 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 19 thrown | nsubj:pass |
| 18 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 19 thrown | aux:pass |
| 19 | thrown | throw | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 5 means | parataxis |
| 20 | off | off | ADP | _ | 21 balance | case |
| 21 | balance | balance | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 thrown | obl |
| 22 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 means | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | take | to-infinitive · passive | aback property | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP» | |||||
| 2 | mean | present | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 3 | is not said to happen | to-infinitive | surprised property | tree rules | |||||
| 4 | shock | participle | by something | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer | |||||
| 5 | throw off | present · passive | you | off balance | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Destination balance=Theme |
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.
Example 1
I was taken aback when Sam shouted my name.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 3 taken | nsubj |
| 2 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 taken | aux:pass |
| 3 | taken | take | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | aback | aback | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 taken | xcomp |
| 5 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 7 shouted | advmod |
| 6 | Sam | Sam | PROPN | Number=Sing | 7 shouted | nsubj |
| 7 | shouted | shout | VERB | Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 taken | advcl |
| 8 | my | my | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 9 name | nmod:poss |
| 9 | name | name | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 shouted | obj |
| 10 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 taken | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | take | past · passive | I | aback property | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: subject=Destination | ||||
| 2 | shout speech: express | past | Sam | my name | vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent name=Topic | ||||
| 3 | name | my | nom name «communication transitive»: poss=agent |
Example 2
She was taken aback by the news.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | She | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 taken | nsubj |
| 2 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 taken | aux:pass |
| 3 | taken | take | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | aback | aback | ADV | _ | 3 taken | advmod |
| 5 | by | by | ADP | _ | 7 news | case |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 news | det |
| 7 | news | news | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 taken | obl |
| 8 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 taken | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | take | past · passive | the news | She | aback property | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument subject=Destination |
Example 3
The little bird was taken aback by the sharp words.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 bird | det |
| 2 | little | little | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 bird | amod |
| 3 | bird | bird | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 taken | nsubj:pass |
| 4 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 taken | aux:pass |
| 5 | taken | take | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 6 | aback | aback | ADV | _ | 5 taken | advmod |
| 7 | by | by | ADP | _ | 10 words | case |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 words | det |
| 9 | sharp | sharp | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 10 words | amod |
| 10 | words | word | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 taken | obl |
| 11 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 taken | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | take | past · passive | the sharp words | the little bird | aback property | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument subject=Destination |
Example 4
Dad was taken aback at how late it was.
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dad | dad | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 taken | nsubj |
| 2 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 taken | aux:pass |
| 3 | taken | take | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 4 | aback | aback | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 taken | xcomp |
| 5 | at | at | SCONJ | _ | 7 late | mark |
| 6 | how | how | ADV | PronType=Int | 7 late | advmod |
| 7 | late | late | ADV | Degree=Pos | 3 taken | obl |
| 8 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 9 was | nsubj |
| 9 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 late | cop |
| 10 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 taken | punct |
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | take | past · passive | Dad | aback property | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: subject=Destination | ||||
| 2 | is | past | late property | tree rules |
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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/aback/