affirm
part of speech
verb (affirm, affirms, affirmed, affirming)
meaning for a pupil
1) To affirm something is to say firmly and clearly that it is true. tree →
2) To affirm a person is to support and encourage them, telling them they are valued. tree →
3) (law, formal) To affirm is to make a solemn promise to tell the truth in court without swearing on a holy book. tree →
4) (law) A higher court affirms a decision when it agrees that the decision was right. tree →
sense in the lessons
In ethics and PSHE lessons affirming someone means saying kind, true things that build them up. In law lessons people may «swear» on a Bible or «affirm» instead. In church, people affirm their faith by saying the creed. Phrases: affirm the truth, affirm your faith, an affirmation.
examples
- The witness affirmed that she had seen the car. tree →
- Our teacher affirmed that the answer was correct. tree →
- Saying «You worked so hard» affirms your friend's effort. tree →
- In court, he chose to affirm rather than swear on the Bible. tree →
- The church members affirmed their faith by saying the creed together. tree →
- The higher court affirmed the judge's decision. tree →
- Write three sentences that affirm what you are good at. tree →
- “And I am that man,” his companion affirmed. tree →
note
Noun: affirmation; adjective: affirmative (an affirmative answer = yes). Do not confuse with «confirm» (check or prove that something is true or booked), though they are close. Opposite: deny.
In the corpora
- The law in many countries lets people affirm instead of swearing, partly because of Quakers.
- Running an "if" backwards is a mistake grown-ups call affirming the consequent.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «affirm» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.