murmuration

Who acts: starlings, We, Thousands, bird, falcon · What happens: fly, swirl, change, watch, murmur, make · To what, where: shapes, sky, murmuration, pier, starlings, neighbours

«murmuration» in the school dictionary: its 2 meanings for a pupil and its 5 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: murmuration in the school dictionary.

Meaning 1

A huge flock of starlings flying together and swirling in changing shapes in the sky, usually at dusk.

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 flock	det
2	huge	huge	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 flock	amod
3	flock	flock	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	of	of	ADP	_	5 starlings	case
5	starlings	starling	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 flock	nmod
6	flying	fly	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	5 starlings	acl
7	together	together	ADV	_	6 flying	advmod
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 swirling	cc
9	swirling	swirl	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	6 flying	conj
10	in	in	SCONJ	_	11 changing	mark
11	changing	change	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	9 swirling	advcl
12	shapes	shape	NOUN	Number=Plur	11 changing	obj
13	in	in	ADP	_	15 sky	case
14	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	15 sky	det
15	sky	sky	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 shapes	nmod
16	,	,	PUNCT	_	19 dusk	punct
17	usually	usually	ADV	_	19 dusk	advmod
18	at	at	ADP	_	19 dusk	case
19	dusk	dusk	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 flying	obl
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 flock	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	fly	gerund	starlings not said here			dusk	together property	vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	swirl	gerund	starlings not said here					vn modes_of_being_with_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme
3	change	gerund	starlings not said here	shapes	the sky			vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shape=Patient

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

Usage: literary — kept apart, not parsed.

A soft, low murmuring sound.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 sound	det
2	soft	soft	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 sound	amod
3	,	,	PUNCT	_	2 soft	punct
4	low	low	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 sound	amod
5	murmuring	murmuring	NOUN	Number=Sing	6 sound	compound
6	sound	sound	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
7	.	.	PUNCT	_	6 sound	punct

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Example 1

We watched a murmuration of starlings over the pier.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	We	we	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs	2 watched	nsubj
2	watched	watch	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 murmuration	det
4	murmuration	murmuration	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 watched	obj
5	of	of	ADP	_	6 starlings	case
6	starlings	starling	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 murmuration	nmod
7	over	over	ADP	_	9 pier	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 pier	det
9	pier	pier	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 watched	obl
10	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 watched	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	watch	past	We	a murmuration of starlings		the pier			vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent murmuration=Theme
2	murmur			starlings					nom murmuration «event transitive»: of=patient

Example 2

The murmuration swirled like a black cloud.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 murmuration	det
2	murmuration	murmuration	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
3	swirled	swirl	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	2 murmuration	acl
4	like	like	ADP	_	7 cloud	case
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 cloud	det
6	black	black	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 cloud	amod
7	cloud	cloud	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 swirled	obl
8	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 murmuration	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	swirl	participle		the murmuration not said here				like a black cloud	vn modes_of_being_with_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Example 3

Thousands of starlings make a murmuration before they roost.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Thousands	thousand	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 make	nsubj
2	of	of	ADP	_	3 starlings	case
3	starlings	starling	NOUN	Number=Plur	1 Thousands	nmod
4	make	make	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 murmuration	det
6	murmuration	murmuration	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 make	obj
7	before	before	SCONJ	_	9 roost	mark
8	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 roost	nsubj
9	roost	roost	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 make	advcl
10	.	.	PUNCT	_	4 make	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	make	present	Thousands of starlings	a murmuration					vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset murmuration=Product
2	roost	present	Thousands = thousand						vn spatial_configuration-47.6 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Example 4

Each bird watches its neighbours in a murmuration.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Each	each	DET	PronType=Tot	2 bird	det
2	bird	bird	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 watches	nsubj
3	watches	watch	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	5 neighbours	nmod:poss
5	neighbours	neighbour	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 watches	obj
6	in	in	ADP	_	8 murmuration	case
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 murmuration	det
8	murmuration	murmuration	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 watches	obl
9	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 watches	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	watch	present	each bird	bird's neighbours		a murmuration			vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent neighbour=Theme

Example 5

A falcon dived into the murmuration but missed.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	2 falcon	det
2	falcon	falcon	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 dived	nsubj
3	dived	dive	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	root	root
4	into	into	ADP	_	6 murmuration	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 murmuration	det
6	murmuration	murmuration	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 dived	obl
7	but	but	CCONJ	_	8 missed	cc
8	missed	miss	VERB	Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 dived	conj
9	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 dived	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	dive	participle	a falcon			the murmuration			vn meander-47.7 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into murmuration=Location
2	miss	past	a falcon not said here						vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer

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/M/murmuration/