copy

«copy» in Mova's school dictionary: a thing made to be the same as another one, like a copy… — 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

noun (copy, copies); verb (copy, copies, copied, copying)

meaning for a pupil

1) A copy is a thing made to be the same as another one, like a copy of a page or a photo. tree →

2) A copy is also one of many printed books, newspapers or games of the same kind: the shop sold 150 copies. tree →

3) To copy is to make a thing the same as another, or to do the same as someone else. tree →

4) To copy in a test is to take another pupil's answers, which is cheating. tree →

5) A copy can also be a model of good writing or drawing that you try to follow exactly. tree →

sense in the lessons

In maths: copies of a page or book that are counted, printed or sold; «copies per minute» is a rate, and «copies of each» multiplies. In school: copy the sum from the board, copy a drawing; in tests copying is not allowed. In computers: copy and paste. In stories: a younger child copies an older one. Phrases: make a copy, a copy of, copy out, copy down, copy and paste, copycat.

examples

• The machine prints 20 copies a minute. tree →
• She made 3 copies of each page. tree →
• The shop sold 150 copies of the book. tree →
• How many copies for 25 pupils? tree →
• Copy the sentence from the board into your book. tree →
• My little brother copies everything I do. tree →
• Do not copy your friend's answers in the test. tree →
• Select the picture, then copy and paste it. tree →
• The museum shows a copy of a famous painting. tree →
• "See, this is the way you should hold yourselves," said the copy. tree →

note

Plural «copies»; past «copied». Countable noun: a copy, two copies. Usually counted things; «copies of each» or «per minute» is a rate. Trap: «3 copies of each of 4 pages» is 12 sheets. A «copycat» is a person who copies others (a bit rude). Copying someone else's work and calling it yours is cheating.

In the corpora

• "Allegedly" means someone has claimed it but it is not proved; a parody account is a joke copying a real name.
• The same program runs many copies at once, each one answering a different person.
• Homework is practice; copying it skips the learning and shows up in tests.
• Copying rules get stricter as you get older, and universities can punish AI copying.
• That is still copying, the way repainting your mate's bike doesn't make it your bike.

Trees and pragmatics

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