action
part of speech
noun (action, actions)
meaning for a pupil
1) An action is something that someone does, like running, jumping or cooking. tree →
2) Action means doing things, not just talking: «We need action!». tree →
3) Action is exciting events in a film or a game: «an action film». tree →
4) An action figure is a small toy person, often a hero. tree →
sense in the lessons
a thing done in a story, such as giving, buying or eating, that changes the amounts; also action figures, which are toys; in grammar, a verb is an action word; in science, every action has an equal and opposite reaction; phrases: «take action», «in action», «action figure», «action word»
examples
- Every action in the story changes how many apples Sam has. tree →
- Ben has 15 action figures. tree →
- He buys 3 more action figures. tree →
- Count the action that happens last. tree →
- «Jump» and «run» are action words. tree →
- We took action to clean up the playground. tree →
- I watched the firefighters in action. tree →
- Kind actions make friends. tree →
- It is quite remarkable how one good action always breeds another. tree →
note
Countable: an action, actions. Often part of «action figures», which is just the thing counted. In explanations an action (give, sell, eat, find) tells whether to add or take away. «Actions speak louder than words» means what you do matters more than what you say.
In the corpora
- A final demand is a warning that a bill is very overdue and stronger action will follow, so acting early is easier.
- -tion is the most common spelling: station, action, question.
- Roots ending in t or te take -tion: act, action; invent, invention; complete, completion.
- A clue is a detail in the text, like an action or a description, that hints at something.
- In the active voice the subject does the action: "The dog ate the cake."
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «action» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.