common

«common» in Mova's school dictionary: happening often or found in many places: a common cold, a… — 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

adjective (common, commoner or more common, commonest or most common); noun (common, commons — a public field)

meaning for a pupil

1) Common means happening often or found in many places: a common cold, a common bird. tree →

2) Common means shared by two or more: a common factor, common interests. tree →

3) Common means ordinary, not special: the common people. tree →

4) A common is an open grassy area in a town that everyone can use. tree →

sense in the lessons

In maths: shared by two numbers or groups (common factor, common multiple, common denominator); «most common» asks for the value seen most often (the mode). In science: the common cold, common birds and plants. In everyday talk: common sense, in common. Phrases: in common, common sense, common factor, common multiple, common denominator, common knowledge, most common.

examples

• Find a common factor of 12 and 18. tree →
• What is the most common number of pets? tree →
• 4 is a common multiple of 2 and 4. tree →
• They have 5 friends in common. tree →
• Sparrows are common birds in towns. tree →
• The common cold makes you sneeze and cough. tree →
• Use your common sense and wear a coat. tree →
• The two fractions need a common denominator. tree →
• We flew kites on the village common. tree →

note

Opposite: rare, uncommon. «Common» means shared by both. «Most common» asks for the value seen most often. Trap: a «common» bird is not a «bad» one; it just means there are many.

In the corpora

• Debt is common and can be sorted.
• A text saying a parcel is held and asking for a small payment is a common scam to steal bank details.
• Feeling jealous of a new baby is very common, and parents still love the older child just as much.
• Family arguments about politics are very common, because big choices affect everybody and people's views come from their own lives.
• Parking rows are common, and knocking politely usually works better than an angry note.

Trees and pragmatics

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