clapping

«clapping» in Mova's school dictionary: hitting your hands together again and again to make a… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (clapping — uncountable); verb form (clap, claps, clapped, clapping)

meaning for a pupil

1) Clapping is hitting your hands together again and again to make a sound, to show you liked something or to cheer. tree →

2) Clapping is the -ing form of «clap»: hitting your hands together, or making a sudden loud noise like thunder. tree →

3) Clapping also means patting someone in a friendly way: «clapping him on the back». tree →

sense in the lessons

In music lessons, clapping keeps the beat and shows rhythm patterns; in school assemblies clapping shows thanks and praise. Clapping games («Miss Mary Mack», «A sailor went to sea») are playground rhymes. Phrases: «clapping along», «a round of applause», «clapping games», «clap your hands».

examples

• Everyone was clapping at the end of the play. tree →
• We kept time by clapping to the music. tree →
• The crowd started clapping and cheering. tree →
• We played clapping games in the playground. tree →
• Clapping hands, she jumped for joy. tree →
• The teacher was clapping a rhythm for us to copy. tree →
• Thunder was clapping over the hills. tree →
• Clapping is how we say «well done» in assembly. tree →
• "Oh how capital," said little Ida, clapping her hands. tree →

note

From «clap»: double p (clapped, clapping). Noun: applause (more formal). Different cultures show appreciation differently; some quiet events or deaf audiences use «silent applause» (waving hands).

In the corpora

• Rhythm is the pattern of beats in a line, made by strong and weak syllables; clapping helps you feel it.

Trees and pragmatics

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