describe

«describe» in Mova's school dictionary: To say or write what someone or something is like: how it… — 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

verb (describe, describes, described, describing); nouns: description, descriptive (adjective)

meaning for a pupil

1) To say or write what someone or something is like: how it looks, sounds, feels, smells or behaves. tree →

2) To tell what happened, step by step. tree →

3) To draw or make a shape or line (formal maths: describe a circle). tree →

sense in the lessons

In English lessons pupils describe characters and settings using adjectives and the five senses. In science they describe observations, what they saw happen. In maths they describe shapes (sides, corners, symmetry) and patterns. In safety: if you get lost or see something wrong, you may need to describe a person, place or car to the police. Phrases: describe how, describe what, hard to describe, describe as.

examples

• Describe your favourite place using all five senses. tree →
• Can you describe the person who took the bike? tree →
• Describe what happened when we added vinegar to the baking soda. tree →
• The book describes life on a farm long ago. tree →
• Describe this shape: it has four equal sides and four right angles. tree →
• I can't describe how happy I was! tree →
• He described the castle as dark and cold. tree →
• It was a pleasure to hear Alfred describe anything. tree →

note

Spelling: describe (with «e» at the end), description (not «discription»). «Describe something to someone», not «describe someone something». In maths «describe a pattern» means say the rule in words.

In the corpora

• When a chatbot describes its weekend or its picnic, it is making up a story, because it has no weekends.
• Zebras have black skin, so they are usually described as black with white stripes.
• Mountain gorillas were known to local people long before scientists first described them in 1902, and now there are about a thousand.
• Toad describes his house like an estate agent's advert: «an eligible self-contained gentleman's residence very unique ...
• She describes him: round and flat, eyes on stalks, walking sideways, with strong armour on his back.

Trees and pragmatics

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