after
part of speech
preposition, conjunction, adverb
meaning for a pupil
1) After means later than something else: «Lunch comes after breakfast». tree →
2) After means behind or following: «Close the door after you», «The dog ran after the ball». tree →
3) To be named after someone is to get their name. tree →
4) To look after is to take care of. tree →
5) To be after something is to want or look for it: «What are you after?». tree →
6) (casual) «After» in Irish English: «I'm after eating» means I have just eaten; «arvo» is afternoon in Australia; «laters» means see you later. tree →
7) (rude) «Who are you after?» or «they're after you» can mean someone wants to hurt or catch you. tree →
8) (formal) Exams say «subsequently», «following», «subsequent to», «thereafter», «upon completion of» and «posterior to». tree →
9) "After all" means when everything is thought about, or despite what you expected. tree →
sense in the lessons
orders the events of a story in time; tells which amount comes first and which change follows; in counting, 8 comes after 7; phrases: «after that», «after school», «look after», «run after», «the day after», «after all», «after a while»; in casual talk «see ya after», «I'm after finishing it» (Ireland), «this arvo»; in rough talk «Mum's gonna be after you when she sees the mess»; in the exam voice «subsequent to the transfer», «following the purchase», «upon completion of»
examples
- After lunch, Mia had 8 cookies left. tree →
- After giving 5 to Joe, he has 12 marbles. tree →
- How many pages are left after she reads 20? tree →
- What number comes after 19? tree →
- I go to football after school. tree →
- Please look after your little sister. tree →
- He was named after his grandfather. tree →
- I'm after eating 4 of them, sorry (Ireland: I have just eaten). tree →
- Footy this arvo, after school, 5 of us. tree →
- Mum's gonna be after you when she sees you broke 2 plates. tree →
- Subsequent to the transfer of 5 marbles, the pupil holds 12. Ascertain the initial holding. tree →
- What are you after? The red one? tree →
- How kind man is, after all! tree →
note
Marks the order of events: the amount «after» a change is the result. Trap: «after giving away 5 he has 12» gives the end amount; to find the start you add back 5. «subsequent to» and «following» in an exam mean after. Trap: Irish «I'm after eating» is the past, not the future. Opposite: before.
In the corpora
- When a parent seems frazzled after work, it is usually the workload, not anything the child did.
- In the UK a strike is legal after a vote, and the disruption is deliberate so that people notice.
- Bailiffs can collect money owed only after a court decision and many warnings, under strict rules, and cannot take essentials.
- It does not mean the family is in danger; it means there is little left after the bills.
- "Money's tight" means little is left after the bills for extras; it does not mean the family is in danger.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «after» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.