directly
part of speech
adverb (directly)
meaning for a pupil
1) Directly means going straight to a place or person, without stopping or turning off. tree →
2) Directly means with nothing or nobody in between, like talking directly to someone. tree →
3) Directly means exactly, like directly opposite or directly above. tree →
4) Directly (mainly British, a bit old-fashioned) means immediately or very soon. tree →
sense in the lessons
In maths and maps, «directly» tells exact position: directly above, directly below, directly opposite. In science: never look directly at the Sun; it can damage your eyes. In safety: «Come directly home after school» means without stopping anywhere else. In maths relationships, «directly proportional» means as one amount goes up, the other goes up at the same rate. Phrases: «directly opposite», «directly above», «speak directly to», «go directly to».
examples
- Never look directly at the Sun. tree →
- The library is directly opposite the school. tree →
- Come directly home after the club. tree →
- You can ask the teacher directly. tree →
- The light is directly above the table. tree →
- Rain fell directly into the bucket. tree →
- The bus goes directly to the station. tree →
- I'll be there directly. tree →
- A large yellow sun hung directly overhead. tree →
note
Adjective: «direct». Opposite: «indirectly». «Directly» means «straight», not «at once» in most of the world; in Ireland and the UK older speakers may say «I'll do it directly» to mean «soon».
In the corpora
- Acid does not come from sweets directly.
- Inference means working out something the text suggests but does not say directly.
- A horse cannot see directly behind itself or right in front of its nose.
- Hiding a signed paper or test does not stop the school, which can email parents directly.
- If someone tells you a hurtful thing another person «said», check with that person directly.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «directly» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.