bc

«bc» in Mova's school dictionary: written after a year to mean that many years before the… — 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

abbreviation (BC — before Christ; also used for British Columbia; bc — informal «because» in text messages)

meaning for a pupil

1) BC is written after a year to mean that many years before the year 1 in the usual calendar, counted backwards: Julius Caesar died in 44 BC. tree →

2) BC stands for British Columbia, a province on the west coast of Canada. tree →

3) In text messages, «bc» is a short way of writing «because». tree →

sense in the lessons

In history and maths, BC years count backwards: 500 BC is earlier than 400 BC; to find the years between a BC date and an AD date, add them (and remember there is no year 0). Many books now write BCE (before the Common Era) for the same years. In Canadian geography, BC is the province whose capital is Victoria and biggest city Vancouver. In texts, «bc» is only for informal messages, never schoolwork. Phrases: in 300 BC, BC and AD, BCE.

examples

• The Great Pyramid was built around 2560 BC. tree →
• Julius Caesar was killed in 44 BC. tree →
• 300 BC came before 200 BC. tree →
• From 50 BC to AD 50 is 99 years, because there is no year zero. tree →
• Vancouver is the largest city in BC. tree →
• «I can't come bc I have practice,» my friend texted. tree →

note

Write BC after the year (44 BC) but AD usually before it (AD 79). Maths trap: BC numbers get smaller as time goes forward, like counting down; bigger BC number = longer ago. «BCE» and «CE» mean the same as BC and AD. Write «because» in full in schoolwork.

In the corpora

• The Earth is about 40,000 km around the equator, and the Greek scholar Eratosthenes estimated this size quite well around 240 BC.
• In 221 BC the king of Qin conquered all the warring kingdoms and called himself the First Emperor.
• In about 509 BC the Romans threw out the last, cruel king and swore never to have one again.
• Early wheelbarrows are recorded in Han China and crossbows by the 5th century BC; ancient Greece had its own early forms of both.
• BC years count down towards year 1, so the bigger BC number is the earlier year: 753 BC comes before 44 BC.

Trees and pragmatics

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