divide
part of speech
verb (divide, divides, divided, dividing); noun (a divide — rare)
meaning for a pupil
1) To divide is to split a number or amount into equal parts or groups; it is the operation ÷. tree →
2) To divide is to split anything into parts: divide the class into teams. tree →
3) To divide can mean to keep two places apart: a river divides the town. tree →
sense in the lessons
the operation ÷ ; the opposite of multiplying («Dividing undoes multiplying»); «divide A by B» = A ÷ B; «shared equally», «split equally», «each gets» point to dividing; in everyday life dividing a pizza, dividing into teams; in science cells divide to make new cells
examples
- When we share a number of things equally into groups, we divide. tree →
- Dividing undoes multiplying: 3 × 4 = 12, so 12 ÷ 3 = 4. tree →
- Divide 18 sweets among 6 children. tree →
- The class of 24 is divided into 4 teams. tree →
- 20 divided by 5 is 4. tree →
- Dad divided the pizza into 8 slices. tree →
- A fence divides our garden from the park. tree →
- Divide the page into two columns. tree →
- They divided the money into three heaps. tree →
note
Divide when a total is shared equally or put into equal groups; check by multiplying back. Trap: the total comes first: «divide 18 by 6» is 18 ÷ 6, not 6 ÷ 18. You cannot divide by zero. Noun «division»; what is left over is the «remainder».
In the corpora
- Kashmir is divided between India, Pakistan and China, and India and Pakistan have fought wars over it.
- Wise: be proud of real achievements, check the big words, and when views divide sharply, describe instead of shouting.
- Supporters say it restored order, critics say it cut freedoms; views are strongly divided.
- Divide the total by the number of people (or groups) to find how many each one gets.
- Divide the total by the size of one group.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «divide» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.