cos

«cos» in Mova's school dictionary: A short spoken form of "because", also written 'cause or coz — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

conjunction (informal spoken form of "because"); also abbreviation cos (maths: cosine)

meaning for a pupil

1) (slang, informal, UK and elsewhere) A short spoken form of "because", also written 'cause or coz. tree →

2) (maths) Short for "cosine", a function used with angles in triangles (older pupils). tree →

sense in the lessons

Children hear "cos" in casual talk all the time: "I'm late cos the bus broke down". In real-speech lessons it signals a reason, just like "because". In secondary maths, cos is written next to an angle: cos 60°. Not used in formal writing.

examples

• I didn't go out cos it was raining. tree →
• "Why are you laughing?" "Cos your face is funny!" tree →
• We stayed in cos Mum said so. tree →
• He's tired cos he stayed up late. tree →
• I like her cos she's kind. tree →
• On a calculator, press cos to find the cosine of an angle. tree →

note

"Cos" is not a proper word for school writing; write "because". Pronounced "koz" when it means because. The maths "cos" is short for cosine and is said "koz" too. In a word problem "cos" introduces a reason; it does not change the numbers.

Trees and pragmatics

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