congratulations

«congratulations» in Mova's school dictionary: what you say to someone to show you are happy about their… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 3 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun, plural (congratulations); interjection (Congratulations!); singular «congratulation» — rare

meaning for a pupil

1) «Congratulations!» is what you say to someone to show you are happy about their success or good news. tree →

2) Congratulations are words or messages that praise someone for something good they did or that happened to them. tree →

sense in the lessons

In everyday life you say it for a win, a birthday milestone, a new baby, passing a test or a good report. In school, teachers say it to winners of a contest or to a class that worked hard. Phrases: «congratulations on …», «offer your congratulations», «send congratulations», «Congratulations to …».

examples

• Congratulations on winning the spelling bee! tree →
• Congratulations to everyone who finished the fun run. tree →
• We sent a card with our congratulations to the new parents. tree →
• «I passed my swimming test!» «Congratulations!» tree →
• The head teacher gave her congratulations to the choir. tree →
• Grandpa phoned to offer his congratulations. tree →
• Congratulations, you solved the hardest puzzle! tree →
• Say congratulations to the other team, even when you lose. tree →
• The next day, the king came with the whole court to offer their congratulations, and stayed till quite late. tree →

note

Almost always used with «s» at the end. Use «on» for the thing: «congratulations on your prize», not «for». It is polite and kind to congratulate the winner even if you lost: that is good sportsmanship. Spelling trap: «congratulations» has a t, not a d, in the middle («-tu-»). Not a number word in maths.

In the corpora

• Families don't owe the street their news first; when a baby arrives, the kind reply is «congratulations».
• Example: a boy in Ontario gets a pop-up: «Congratulations!
• The judge smiles, signs the papers and says, «Congratulations.» Then he gives her a teddy from a basket.

Trees and pragmatics

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