case
part of speech
noun (a case, cases)
meaning for a pupil
1) A case is a container or box for keeping or carrying things: a pencil case, a suitcase, a phone case. tree →
2) A case is one example or situation of something: a case of chickenpox, in that case. tree →
3) A case is a crime or problem that the police, a detective or a court looks into. tree →
4) «In case» means as a plan for something that might happen: take a coat in case it rains. tree →
5) In writing, upper case means capital letters and lower case means small letters. tree →
6) A case can also mean the condition or state someone is in, especially a bad one. tree →
sense in the lessons
In the Tanakh and Jewish tradition: In the Torah it means the legal situation or rule that applies, as in "the case of the manslayer". In Sefer Yetzirah translations it means an instance in the grammar of names. In the psalms it means a condition or state, as in "such a case". Interpretation: Tradition understands the "case of the manslayer" as the law of the cities of refuge. A person who killed without intent could flee there and be safe. The psalm's "happy is the people that is in such a case" is read as calling the people happy whose God is the LORD. In the primary lessons: In school a pencil case holds pens and pencils; pupils learn upper case and lower case letters. In safety lessons «in case of emergency» or «in case of fire» starts instructions: «In case of fire, use the stairs, not the lift». In stories and mysteries, detectives solve cases. In maths and logic «in this case» means for this example. Phrases: in case, in case of, just in case, in any case, in that case, pencil case, upper case, lower case, case closed.
examples
- And this is the case of the manslayer, that shall flee thither and live: whoso killeth his neighbour unawares, and hated him not in time past; (Torah DEU.19.4, JPS 1917) tree →
- In this case the name is AL, El. (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893) tree →
- In this case we have the simple form AL, EL. (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1893) tree →
- Happy is the people that is in such a case. (Writings PSA.144.15, JPS 1917) tree →
- I keep my pens in my pencil case. tree →
- Take an umbrella in case it rains. tree →
- In case of fire, leave by the nearest exit. tree →
- The detective solved the case. tree →
- There were three cases of flu in our class. tree →
- Write your name in upper case letters. tree →
- «It's raining.» «In that case, let's play indoors.» tree →
- Pack a plaster just in case. tree →
- The poor king was in a terrible case. tree →
note
Countable: cases. Trap: «in case» (as a precaution, before something happens) is not the same as «if»: «Take a coat in case it rains» means take it now; «Take a coat if it rains» means only when it rains. A «suitcase» is a case for clothes when travelling. In maths, «in each case» means for every example.
In the corpora
- Happy is the people that is in such a case.
- A rental deposit is money held in case of damage, and it comes back if the home is left in good condition.
- AI is good at the usual cases it has seen many times and often weak at unusual or brand-new ones.
- In every case it is a strong guess, not a certainty, so people still check, decide and stay in charge.
- It was reported that lawyers in America handed a court past cases that a chatbot had invented, and that the judge fined them.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «case» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.