downstair
part of speech
adverb, adjective (downstair, downstairs); noun (the downstairs)
meaning for a pupil
1) Downstairs means on a lower floor of a house or building, usually the ground floor. tree →
2) Downstairs also means going down the stairs to a lower floor. tree →
3) The downstairs is the lower floor of a house. «Downstair» is a rarer form of «downstairs»; the usual word is «downstairs». tree →
sense in the lessons
In maths: a place in the story: rooms or people on the lower floor; «downstairs and upstairs» are parts of the whole house, so add them; someone going down moves from one group to the other. At home: the kitchen and living room are often downstairs, bedrooms upstairs. Safety: walk, do not run, when you go downstairs. Phrases: go downstairs, come downstairs, the downstairs room, downstairs neighbours.
examples
- There are 3 rooms downstairs and 4 upstairs. tree →
- 5 children are downstairs and 7 upstairs. tree →
- She went downstairs to get 2 cups. tree →
- How many people are downstairs now? tree →
- Dad called us downstairs for dinner. tree →
- Hold the rail when you walk downstairs. tree →
- The downstairs toilet is next to the kitchen. tree →
- Our neighbours downstairs have a dog. tree →
- I heard a noise downstairs in the night. tree →
- Miss Cat went downstairs and sent the wooer away. tree →
note
Use «downstairs» with an s in almost all cases; «downstair» is rare (sometimes before a noun: a downstair room). Opposite: upstairs. No «to»: say «go downstairs», not «go to downstairs». A place word; «downstairs and upstairs» are parts of the whole house, so add them. Trap: someone going downstairs moves from the upstairs group to the downstairs group.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «downstair» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.