direction

«direction» in Mova's school dictionary: the way something goes, faces or points, like north… — 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 (direction, directions)

meaning for a pupil

1) A direction is the way something goes, faces or points, like north, left, up or forwards. tree →

2) Directions are instructions that tell you how to get somewhere, or how to do something. tree →

3) Direction is also leading or guiding people, like a film director does. tree →

sense in the lessons

In school maths: ways of moving — same or opposite direction changes how distances add or subtract; compass directions; turning clockwise and anticlockwise; following directions on a grid. In geography: north, south, east, west on maps. In everyday life: asking for directions, reading the directions on a packet. Phrases: «in the direction of», «opposite direction», «ask for directions», «sense of direction», «follow the directions».

examples

• Two cars go in opposite directions. tree →
• They walk in the same direction. tree →
• Which direction is north? tree →
• Follow the directions on the map. tree →
• Can you give me directions to the station? tree →
• Read the directions before you start the test. tree →
• The wind changed direction. tree →
• She has a good sense of direction and never gets lost. tree →

note

Countable: «a direction». «In this direction», not «to this direction». Maths: opposite directions — the distance between them grows by the sum (distances add); same direction — it grows by the difference (they subtract). Trap: «opposite directions» towards each other also add speeds. Safety: if you get lost, ask a police officer or a shop worker for directions.

In the corpora

• Headlines about AI can exaggerate in both directions, overhyping or overscaring, so it is wise to read beyond the headline.
• But the Rat kindly looked in another direction».
• The friends, listening from under a leaf, are worried: even Jaguar cannot forget such clear directions.
• Reading and spelling are the same skill going in two directions.
• Every letter has a starting point and a direction.

Trees and pragmatics

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