afford

«afford» in Mova's school dictionary: To have enough money to pay for something (We can't… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (afford, affords, afforded, affording) — usually with can, could, be able to

meaning for a pupil

1) To have enough money to pay for something (We can't afford a new car). tree →

2) To have enough time, space or energy for something (I can't afford to miss the bus). tree →

3) To be able to do something without bad results (We can't afford to make mistakes). tree →

4) (formal) To give or provide (The hill affords a fine view). tree →

sense in the lessons

In maths and money lessons: «Can she afford it?» means compare what you have with the price — if money ≥ price, yes. Budgeting and saving teach that you can't afford everything you want. In everyday life families talk about what they can afford. Phrases: can afford, can't afford, afford to do, affordable (cheap enough).

examples

• I can afford the book because I saved $15 and it costs $12. tree →
• We can't afford a holiday this year. tree →
• Can you afford to buy lunch for both of us? tree →
• I can't afford to be late again. tree →
• Save your pocket money so you can afford the toy. tree →
• These shoes are affordable — they're on sale. tree →
• Sam has $8; can he afford a ticket that costs $10? No, he needs $2 more. tree →
• How can you afford to bring up the boy? tree →

note

Usually used with «can/can't, could, be able to». Maths: if the money you have is equal to or more than the price, you can afford it; the difference (price − money) is how much more you need. Adjective: affordable.

In the corpora

• Some people go to work ill because they can't afford to lose the pay, which spreads germs to everyone else.
• Debt becomes a problem when the repayments are more than the family can afford.
• Lending money to friends can cause arguments, so many grown-ups only lend what they could afford to lose.
• Translation and tutoring tools might make learning easier for many people, but not every family can afford them.
• "Food insecure" (official) means hungry and not able to afford enough food.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «afford» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.