congratulate
part of speech
verb (congratulate, congratulates, congratulated, congratulating)
meaning for a pupil
1) To congratulate someone means to tell them you are pleased about their success, good luck or happy event: we congratulated her on winning. tree →
2) To congratulate yourself means to feel pleased with yourself for something you did. tree →
sense in the lessons
Good manners and sport: after a game, congratulate the winners even if you lost («good game!»); on birthdays, new babies, weddings and prizes, people send cards saying «Congratulations!». At school, teachers congratulate pupils in assembly. Phrases: congratulate someone on, congratulate someone for, warmly congratulate, Congratulations!
examples
- We congratulated Mia on winning the spelling bee. tree →
- Our team congratulated the winners after the match. tree →
- The head teacher congratulated the whole class. tree →
- I congratulated my aunt on her new baby. tree →
- Congratulations on passing your swimming test! tree →
- He congratulated himself on finishing the puzzle. tree →
- "To my lord Marquis of Carabas," replied the reapers; and the King again congratulated the Marquis. tree →
note
Regular verb. Use «congratulate on» (+ noun or -ing): «congratulate you on your win». Noun: congratulations — usually plural, and spelled with «t», not «d» («congradulations» is a common mistake). Informal: «congrats».
In the corpora
- A good winner says good game, and a good loser congratulates the winner.
- A good sport congratulates the winner and does not show off after winning.
- If you lose a party game, you congratulate the winner and keep smiling.
- A good winner is happy without rubbing it in, and a good loser congratulates the winner.
- A good loser shakes hands, congratulates the winner and learns from the game.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «congratulate» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.