task
part of speech
noun (a task, tasks); verb (task, tasked — formal)
meaning for a pupil
1) A task is a piece of work that someone has to do, often given by someone else. tree →
2) To be tasked with something is to be given a job to do (formal). tree →
3) «Take someone to task» means to tell them off for something they did. tree →
sense in the lessons
In the Tanakh and Jewish tradition: The daily task shows how harsh the slavery in Egypt was, when straw was taken away and the quota stayed the same. Israel later made the Canaanites do task-work, and Koheleth calls the search for wisdom a sore task given to humans. Interpretation: The Passover story tells of this hard labor, and at the seder Jews remember it as the bitterness of slavery. Tradition reads Ecclesiastes as saying that people are meant to wrestle with life's questions, even though it is hard. In the primary lessons: In school teachers give «tasks»: «Your task is to write three sentences», «a reading task», «a maths task». Pupils learn to break a big task into small steps and check the task is finished. At home children have tasks such as feeding the pet. Phrases: «complete a task», «on task» (concentrating), «off task» (not working), «a difficult task», «task list».
examples
- And the taskmasters were urgent, saying: 'Fulfil your work, your daily task, as when there was straw.' (Torah EXO.5.13, JPS 1917) tree →
- For he saw a resting-place that it was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and he bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant under task-work (Torah GEN.49.15, JPS 1917) tree →
- And the officers of the children of Israel did see that they were set on mischief, when they said: 'Ye shall not diminish aught from your bricks, your daily task.' (Torah EXO.5.19, JPS 1917) tree →
- I have seen the task which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith. (Writings ECC.3.10, JPS 1917) tree →
- And it came to pass, when Israel was waxen strong, that they put the Canaanites to task-work, but did in no wise drive them out. (Prophets JDG.1.28, JPS 1917) tree →
- And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven; it is a sore task that God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith. (Writings ECC.1.13, JPS 1917) tree →
- Your first task is to read the story. tree →
- Feeding the cat is my task every morning. tree →
- Stay on task, please. tree →
- This task is harder than the last one. tree →
- Break a big task into smaller parts. tree →
- The class finished the task in ten minutes. tree →
- Each group had a different task. tree →
- The third task was the hardest. tree →
note
Plural: tasks. Countable: «a task», «two tasks». «Task» is more formal than «job» or «chore». In maths problems, if 4 children share 12 tasks equally, each does 12 ÷ 4 = 3.
In the corpora
- And the taskmasters were urgent, saying: 'Fulfil your work, your daily task, as when there was straw.'
- I have seen the task which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith.
- Burnout means being worn down by too much work and stress for too long, until even small tasks feel huge.
- Some tasks are moving to AI, new jobs appear too, and experts disagree on how much will change.
- Some jobs are changing as AI does some tasks, new jobs appear too, and experts disagree about how much will change.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «task» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.