def belongs(lemma, lemma_list):
    """
    args:
        - lemma : a Wordnet lemma e.g. Lemma('administration.n.02.governance')
        - lemma_list : a list of lemmas

    returns True if lemma is in lemma_list and False otherwise.

    The NLTK Wordnet implementation of Lemma is such that two lemmas are
    considered equal only if their names are the same.
    i.e Lemma('regulate.v.02.govern') == Lemma('govern.v.02.govern')
    Therefore the python statement "lemma in lemma_list" yields
    unexpected results. This function implements the expected
    behavior for the statement "lemma in list_list".
    """
    for element in lemma_list:
        if (element.name() == lemma.name() and
        element.synset() == lemma.synset()):
            return True
    return False