commence
part of speech
verb (commence, commences, commenced, commencing)
meaning for a pupil
(formal) To begin or start. tree →
sense in the lessons
A stiff official and exam word: "the exam will commence at nine". In maths problems: "the race commenced at 2:15" gives the start time. Phrases: commence work, commence the test.
examples
- The exam will commence in five minutes. tree →
- Building work commenced on the new library. tree →
- Please commence writing now. tree →
- The concert commenced at 7 pm and ended at 9 pm. tree →
- The ceremony will commence with a song. tree →
- Lessons commence at 8:45 each morning. tree →
- "After that," continued the North Wind, "the hunting commenced. tree →
note
Formal; in everyday talk say "begin" or "start". Noun: commencement (in the USA, a graduation ceremony). In time problems, the commence time is the start time: duration = end minus start.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «commence» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.