down
part of speech
adverb, preposition (down); adjective (down — sad, not working); noun (down — soft feathers; downs — hills); verb (down, downed — to drink fast or to knock over)
meaning for a pupil
1) Down means toward a lower place. You walk down the stairs. tree →
2) Down means less or lower in amount, like prices going down. tree →
3) Down can mean along: walk down the road. tree →
4) Feeling down means feeling sad. tree →
5) Down is the soft fluffy feathers of young birds. tree →
6) Write down means put on paper. tree →
7) Down means not working: «the internet is down». tree →
8) (casual) «I'm down» or «down for it» (US slang) means I agree, I'll join; «down to you» means your choice; «down under» means Australia and NZ. tree →
9) (rude) «Put someone down» is to make them feel small; «shut it down» and «pipe down» mean be quiet. tree →
10) (euphemism) «Downsizing» means sacking workers; «let someone down» means disappoint them. tree →
11) (formal) Exams say «decrease», «decline», «diminish», «descend», «reduce», «a reduction of» and «in a downward direction». tree →
12) To settle down means to make your home somewhere and stay there for good. tree →
sense in the lessons
maths: going lower: prices or temperatures going down, walking down a road, writing down a number; «down by n» subtracts, «down to n» gives the new amount; rounding down; science: things fall down because of gravity; ducklings have down; everyday life: sit down, calm down, slow down; phrases: «down the road», «upside down», «count down», «down payment»; in casual talk «u down?», «down under», «chill down», «it's down to you»; in rough talk «pipe down», «sit down and shut up»; in the exam voice «the temperature declines by 3 degrees», «decreases to 2 degrees», «a reduction of 3 dollars»
examples
- The price went down by $3. tree →
- The temperature dropped down to 2 degrees. tree →
- She walked 5 blocks down the street. tree →
- Write down the answer. tree →
- Please sit down. tree →
- Slow down near the school. tree →
- He felt down after losing the game. tree →
- Ducklings are covered in soft down. tree →
- Count down from ten to zero. tree →
- footy at 4, u down? we need 2 more. tree →
- Pipe down, I'm counting the money! tree →
- The temperature, initially 9 degrees, declines by 3 degrees and subsequently by a further 2 degrees. State the final temperature. tree →
- He was settled down for good. tree →
note
«Goes down by n» means subtract n; «down to n» gives the new amount. Trap: «by» and «to» are different: down by 3 subtracts 3, down to 3 means it is now 3. «declines by» and «decreases by» in an exam also subtract; «decreases to» gives the new amount. «I'm down» in slang means I agree, with no number meaning. Round down means go to the lower number.
In the corpora
- Being turned down is normal for everyone, and being picked is the reward for trying again and again.
- Burnout means being worn down by too much work and stress for too long, until even small tasks feel huge.
- Picture a living room in Melbourne: Dad sits you down and says, "Grandad is dying.
- Many people feel let down by politicians, but they can still vote, write letters and get involved.
- Tired adults often push on all day and only stop when they sit down, and a good night's sleep usually fixes it.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «down» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.