ply

Who acts: food, merchant, He, old sailor, sailor · What happens: ply, be, give, want, seat, begin · To what, where: someone, food, them, trade, tool, him

«ply» in the school dictionary: its 2 meanings 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: ply in the school dictionary.

Meaning 1

To ply someone with something is to keep giving them food or drink, often more than they want.

The tree, 18 words

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 ply	mark
2	ply	ply	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 keep	advcl
3	someone	someone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	2 ply	obj
4	with	with	ADP	_	5 something	case
5	something	something	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	2 ply	obl
6	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	8 keep	cop
7	to	to	PART	_	8 keep	mark
8	keep	keep	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
9	giving	give	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 keep	xcomp
10	them	they	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 giving	iobj
11	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 giving	obj
12	or	or	CCONJ	_	13 drink	cc
13	drink	drink	NOUN	Number=Sing	11 food	conj
14	,	,	PUNCT	_	16 more	punct
15	often	often	ADV	_	16 more	advmod
16	more	more	ADJ	Degree=Cmp	8 keep	parataxis
17	than	than	SCONJ	_	19 want	mark
18	they	they	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs	19 want	nsubj
19	want	want	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	16 more	advcl
20	.	.	PUNCT	_	8 keep	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	other	roles by
1	ply	to-infinitive			someone	with something	vn equip-13.4.2 «NP V NP-Fulfilling PP»: agent=Agent someone=Recipient with something=Theme
2	is	present				keep property	tree rules
3	give	gerund		food or drink	them = they		vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent they=Recipient food=Theme
4	want	present	food				vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot

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: old use — kept apart, not parsed.

To ply a trade or tool is to work at it steadily.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	To	to	PART	_	2 ply	mark
2	ply	ply	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	9 work	advcl
3	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	4 trade	det
4	trade	trade	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 ply	obj
5	or	or	CCONJ	_	6 tool	cc
6	tool	tool	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 trade	conj
7	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	9 work	cop
8	to	to	PART	_	9 work	mark
9	work	work	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
10	at	at	ADP	_	11 it	case
11	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 work	obl
12	steadily	steadily	ADV	_	9 work	advmod
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	9 work	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ply	to-infinitive		a trade or tool					vn equip-13.4.2 «NP V NP-Fulfilling PP»: agent=Agent trade=Recipient
2	is	present				tool		steadily, work property	tree rules

Example 1

The merchant seated him at table and began plying him with brandy.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 merchant	det
2	merchant	merchant	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 seated	nsubj
3	seated	seat	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	3 seated	obj
5	at	at	ADP	_	6 table	case
6	table	table	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 seated	obl
7	and	and	CCONJ	_	8 began	cc
8	began	begin	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 seated	conj
9	plying	ply	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	8 began	xcomp
10	him	he	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	9 plying	obj
11	with	with	ADP	_	12 brandy	case
12	brandy	brandy	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 plying	obl
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 seated	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	other	roles by
1	seat	past	the merchant	him = he		table		vn fit-54.3 «NP.location V NP»: agent=Location he=Value
2	begin	past	the merchant not said here					vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality
3	ply	gerund	the merchant not said here		merchant		with brandy	vn equip-13.4.2 «NP V NP-Fulfilling PP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient with brandy=Theme

Example 2

He kept plying the guest with cakes and tea.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	He	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	2 kept	nsubj
2	kept	keep	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
3	plying	ply	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	2 kept	xcomp
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 guest	det
5	guest	guest	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 plying	obj
6	with	with	ADP	_	7 cakes	case
7	cakes	cake	NOUN	Number=Plur	3 plying	obl
8	and	and	CCONJ	_	9 tea	cc
9	tea	tea	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 cakes	conj
10	.	.	PUNCT	_	2 kept	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	keep	past	He						tree rules
2	ply	gerund	He not said here		the guest			with cakes and tea	vn equip-13.4.2 «NP V NP-Fulfilling PP»: agent=Agent guest=Recipient with cake=Theme

Example 3

The old sailor plied his trade by the harbour for forty years.

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 sailor	det
2	old	old	ADJ	Degree=Pos	3 sailor	amod
3	sailor	sailor	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 plied	nsubj
4	plied	ply	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
5	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	6 trade	nmod:poss
6	trade	trade	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 plied	obj
7	by	by	ADP	_	9 harbour	case
8	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	9 harbour	det
9	harbour	harbour	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 plied	obl
10	for	for	ADP	_	12 years	case
11	forty	forty	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	12 years	nummod
12	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	4 plied	obl
13	.	.	PUNCT	_	4 plied	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	ply	past	the old sailor	sailor's trade			year	by the harbour	vn equip-13.4.2 «NP V NP-Fulfilling PP»: agent=Agent trade=Recipient
2	trade		sailor						nom trade «act transitive»: poss=agent

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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