ain

«ain» in Mova's school dictionary: not a word on its own; it is the first part of «ain't», a… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 3 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

fragment (part of «ain't»); verb form in informal speech: ain't = am not / is not / are not / has not / have not

meaning for a pupil

1) Ain is not a word on its own; it is the first part of «ain't», a short form cut off at the apostrophe. tree →

2) (informal, nonstandard) Ain't means am not, is not, are not, has not or have not, as in «I ain't got any». tree →

sense in the lessons

It appears in stories and real speech when a character talks in a very casual or dialect way; it tells the reader the speaker is relaxed, rough or from a certain place. In school writing and exams you should write the full form instead. Phrases: «ain't got», «it ain't fair», «if it ain't broke, don't fix it».

examples

• «I ain't going,» said the boy in the story. tree →
• It ain't fair — she got more cake! tree →
• «We ain't seen nothing yet,» the farmer laughed. tree →
• If it ain't broke, don't fix it. tree →
• In your essay, write «isn't», not «ain't». tree →
• «You ain't finished your sums,» Nan grumbled. tree →
• "Brer Fox ain't sayin' nuthin' 'tall. tree →

note

Ain't is nonstandard; teachers mark it wrong in formal writing. Change it to isn't, aren't, am not, hasn't or haven't. A double negative like «ain't got none» means «haven't got any» in meaning, not a positive. In maths problems «ain't» changes nothing about the numbers; read it as «is not / has not».

In the corpora

• and Lebaoth, and Shilhim, and Ain, and Rimmon; all the cities are twenty and nine, with their villages.
• Ain, Rimmon, and Ether, and Ashan; four cities with their villages;
• And their villages were Etam, and Ain, Rimmon, and Tochen, and Ashan, five cities;

Trees and pragmatics

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