become
part of speech
verb (become, becomes, became, becoming; past participle become)
meaning for a pupil
1) To become is to start to be something. A seed becomes a plant. tree →
2) To become is to change into something new over time, like a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. tree →
3) Something becomes you if it looks nice on you (old-fashioned: «that dress becomes you»). tree →
sense in the lessons
marks the new amount after a change: «the number becomes 20»; often after a change, ask what the start was; in science: water becomes ice when it freezes, tadpoles become frogs; in stories: a frog becomes a prince; in everyday life: «become friends», «become tired», «become a doctor when I grow up»
examples
- After he gave away 5, his marbles became 12. tree →
- The price became $8. tree →
- The tadpoles become frogs. tree →
- How many did it become? tree →
- Water becomes ice at 0 degrees Celsius. tree →
- I want to become a vet when I grow up. tree →
- The two girls became best friends. tree →
- The sky became dark and it started to rain. tree →
- A caterpillar becomes a butterfly. tree →
- It will soon become like ice. tree →
note
It points to the result of a change. Trap: if you know the result and the change, undo the change to find the start (gave away 5, became 12 → started with 17). Irregular: become, became, (has) become. Not «becomed».
In the corpora
- Debt becomes a problem when the repayments are more than the family can afford.
- The children of a parent's partner can become your step-siblings: brothers or sisters through marriage, not by birth.
- "When the fun stops, stop" is a warning betting adverts must include, because gambling can become an addiction.
- If a "We'll see" matters to you, ask calmly what would need to change for it to become a yes.
- Before passing a story on, check it: a small nip can become a horror story in three tellings.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «become» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.