broke
part of speech
verb (past simple of break: break, breaks, broke, broken, breaking); adjective (broke, informal)
meaning for a pupil
1) Broke is the past form of break: I broke the window. tree →
2) Broke (informal) means having no money: I'm broke until my next pocket money. tree →
sense in the lessons
In stories, «broke» tells the reader something cracked, snapped or stopped working in the past, or a rule or promise was not kept (broke the rules, broke a promise). In science: the glass broke into pieces. In sport: she broke the record (did better than before). Phrases: broke down (stopped working or started crying), broke out (started suddenly or escaped), broke up (ended, or school finished for holidays in the UK), broke the record.
examples
- I broke my arm when I fell off my bike. tree →
- The vase fell and broke. tree →
- He broke his promise. tree →
- Our car broke down on the motorway. tree →
- A fire broke out in the kitchen. tree →
- She broke the school record for running. tree →
- We broke up for the summer holidays. tree →
- I spent all my money, so I'm broke. tree →
- And the mace broke in two. tree →
note
Broke is past simple; broken is the past participle: «I broke it» but «It is broken» / «I have broken it». Never say «I have broke». «Broke» meaning «no money» is slang; in school writing use «had no money».
In the corpora
- "Bit the dust" means died, or was destroyed or broke; it is slang.
- "Parted ways" means broke up.
- "Financially challenged" is a joking way to say poor or broke.
- A girl in Minnesota went roller skating without wrist guards, fell backwards onto her hands and broke both wrists.
- A boy in Ohio was bored at home and climbed onto the garage roof for fun; he slipped off and broke his arm.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «broke» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.