ploy

Who acts: someone, free toy, Pretending, team, ploy, Adverts · What happens: use, get, make, do, be, buy · To what, where: clever trick, advantage, someone, something, ploy, us

«ploy» in the school dictionary: its meaning for a pupil and its 6 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: ploy in the school dictionary.

Meaning 1

A clever trick or plan used to get an advantage or to make someone do something.

The tree, 16 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	A	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 trick	det
2	clever	clever	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 trick	amod
3	trick	trick	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
4	or	or	CCONJ	_	5 plan	cc
5	plan	plan	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 trick	conj
6	used	use	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 trick	acl
7	to	to	PART	_	8 get	mark
8	get	get	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	6 used	advcl
9	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	10 advantage	det
10	advantage	advantage	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 get	obj
11	or	or	CCONJ	_	13 make	cc
12	to	to	PART	_	13 make	mark
13	make	make	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 get	conj
14	someone	someone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	13 make	obj
15	do	do	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	13 make	xcomp
16	something	something	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	15 do	obj
17	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 trick	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	use	participle		a clever trick or plan not said here	vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
2	get	to-infinitive		a advantage	vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer advantage=Stimulus
3	make	to-infinitive		someone	tree rules
4	do	infinitive	someone not said here	something	vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent something=Eventuality

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

The "free" toy was a ploy to get us to buy more cereal.

The tree, 13 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 toy	det
2	"	"	PUNCT	_	3 free	punct
3	free	free	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 toy	amod
4	"	"	PUNCT	_	3 free	punct
5	toy	toy	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 ploy	nsubj
6	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 ploy	cop
7	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	8 ploy	det
8	ploy	ploy	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
9	to	to	PART	_	10 get	mark
10	get	get	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 ploy	acl
11	us	we	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs	10 get	iobj
12	to	to	PART	_	13 buy	mark
13	buy	buy	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	10 get	xcomp
14	more	more	ADV	Degree=Cmp	15 cereal	advmod
15	cereal	cereal	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 buy	obj
16	.	.	PUNCT	_	8 ploy	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	roles by
1	is a	past	the free toy	a ploy		tree rules
2	get	to-infinitive			us	tree rules
3	buy	to-infinitive		cereal		vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cereal=Theme

Example 2

Pretending to be ill was a ploy to miss the test.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Pretending	pretend	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	7 ploy	csubj
2	to	to	PART	_	4 ill	mark
3	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	4 ill	cop
4	ill	ill	ADJ	Degree=Pos	1 Pretending	xcomp
5	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 ploy	cop
6	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	7 ploy	det
7	ploy	ploy	NOUN	Number=Sing	root	root
8	to	to	PART	_	9 miss	mark
9	miss	miss	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	7 ploy	acl
10	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	11 test	det
11	test	test	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 miss	obj
12	.	.	PUNCT	_	7 ploy	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	pretend	gerund				tree rules
2	is	to-infinitive			ill property	tree rules
3	is a	past	Pretending	a ploy		tree rules
4	miss	to-infinitive		the test		vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer test=Stimulus

Example 3

The team used a clever ploy to win the ball.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 team	det
2	team	team	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 used	nsubj
3	used	use	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	6 ploy	det
5	clever	clever	ADJ	Degree=Pos	6 ploy	amod
6	ploy	ploy	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 used	obj
7	to	to	PART	_	8 win	mark
8	win	win	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 used	advcl
9	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	10 ball	det
10	ball	ball	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 win	obj
11	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 used	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	use	past	the team	a clever ploy					vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ploy=Patient
2	win	to-infinitive	the team not said here	the ball					vn succeed-74-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ball=Eventuality

Example 4

The fox's ploy was to flatter the crow.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 fox	det
2	fox	fox	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 ploy	nmod:poss
3	's	's	PART	_	2 fox	case
4	ploy	ploy	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 flatter	nsubj
5	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	7 flatter	cop
6	to	to	PART	_	7 flatter	mark
7	flatter	flatter	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 crow	det
9	crow	crow	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 flatter	obj
10	.	.	PUNCT	_	7 flatter	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	past	the fox's ploy					flatter property	tree rules

Example 5

Adverts use ploys to make you want things.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Adverts	advert	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 use	nsubj
2	use	use	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	ploys	ploy	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 use	obj
4	to	to	PART	_	5 make	mark
5	make	make	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	2 use	advcl
6	you	you	PRON	Case=Acc Person=2 PronType=Prs	5 make	obj
7	want	want	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	5 make	xcomp
8	things	thing	NOUN	Number=Plur	7 want	obj
9	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 use	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	roles by
1	use	present	Adverts	ploys	vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ploy=Patient
2	make	to-infinitive	Adverts not said here	you	tree rules
3	want	infinitive	you not said here	things	vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot thing=Theme

Example 6

His ploy didn't work; Mum saw through it.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	His	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	2 ploy	nmod:poss
2	ploy	ploy	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 work	nsubj
3	did	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 work	aux
4	n't	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	5 work	advmod
5	work	work	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	root	root
6	;	;	PUNCT	_	8 saw	punct
7	Mum	Mum	PROPN	Number=Sing	8 saw	nsubj
8	saw	see	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	5 work	ccomp
9	through	through	ADP	_	10 it	case
10	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	8 saw	obl
11	.	.	PUNCT	_	5 work	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	not work	past · do-support	His ploy						vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality
2	see	past	Mum			ploy			vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: 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/P/ploy/