algae

«algae» in Mova's school dictionary: Simple plant-like living things, usually green, brown or… — 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

noun, plural (algae; singular alga — rarely used); uncountable in everyday use (some algae)

meaning for a pupil

1) Simple plant-like living things, usually green, brown or red, that grow in water or damp places and make their own food from sunlight. tree →

2) The green slime or scum seen on ponds, rocks, fish tanks and swimming pools. tree →

3) Seaweeds are large algae. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science, algae are producers at the bottom of water food chains: tiny fish and other creatures eat them, and they give off much of the oxygen we breathe. In everyday life they make ponds green and paths slippery. In safety: rocks covered in algae are very slippery; some algae (blue-green algae) in lakes can be poisonous to people and dogs — obey warning signs. Phrases: algae bloom, green algae, pond algae.

examples

• Algae turned the pond water bright green. tree →
• Be careful — the rocks are slippery with algae. tree →
• Seaweed is a kind of algae that grows in the sea. tree →
• Algae make food from sunlight, like plants do. tree →
• Tiny animals in the sea eat algae. tree →
• We cleaned the algae off the inside of the fish tank. tree →
• The sign warned that toxic algae made the lake unsafe for swimming. tree →

note

«Algae» is plural; the singular «alga» is rare, so people say «some algae» or «a type of algae». Pronounced AL-jee (UK also AL-ghee). Algae are not true plants in modern science, but they make food by photosynthesis like plants.

In the corpora

• Green algae grow in a sloth's fur and help to hide it among the leaves.
• Almost all the oxygen we breathe was made by plants and tiny algae in the sea.
• Corals are tiny animals called polyps that build limestone skeletons; algae living inside them make food from sunlight and share it.
• When the sea gets too warm, coral throws out its algae and turns white, which is called bleaching.
• Green algae grow in sloth fur and give camouflage among leaves, and moths live in the fur too.

Trees and pragmatics

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