afraid
part of speech
adjective (afraid; only after a verb: be afraid, feel afraid)
meaning for a pupil
1) Afraid means feeling fear, scared that something bad might happen. tree →
2) Afraid of something means scared of it: afraid of the dark. tree →
3) «I'm afraid» is a polite way to say something sorry or disappointing: I'm afraid we are closed. tree →
sense in the lessons
In feelings lessons, being afraid is normal and helps keep you safe; talk to a trusted adult about fears. In stories, an afraid character often has to find courage. Polite speech: «I'm afraid I can't come» softens bad news. Phrases: afraid of, afraid to, afraid that, I'm afraid so, I'm afraid not.
examples
- I am afraid of spiders. tree →
- Don't be afraid, it is only the wind. tree →
- She was afraid to jump into the deep end. tree →
- I'm afraid the shop is closed. tree →
- The puppy was afraid of the thunder. tree →
- Are you afraid of the dark? tree →
- «Is it raining?» «I'm afraid so.» tree →
- He was afraid that he would miss the bus. tree →
- She was afraid, and didn't stir. tree →
note
Used after the verb: «The boy is afraid», not «the afraid boy» (say «the frightened boy» or «the scared boy»). Use «afraid of», not «afraid from». In «I'm afraid…» the speaker is often not scared at all, just polite.
In the corpora
- Elephants may jump at small sudden things, but the story that they are specially afraid of mice is a myth.
- There is no good evidence that real elephants are especially afraid of mice.
- Dogs were the first animals people tamed, from wolves that were less afraid of people, but where and when is still argued.
- RABBIT", and Alice goes in without knocking and hurries upstairs, afraid of meeting the real Mary Ann and being turned out.
- I needn't be afraid of them!»
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «afraid» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.