early

«early» in Mova's school dictionary: Before the usual or expected time: «The bus came early» — 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

adjective (early, earlier, earliest); adverb (early, earlier, earliest)

meaning for a pupil

1) Before the usual or expected time: «The bus came early». tree →

2) Near the beginning of a day, a period or an event: early morning, early in the year. tree →

3) Happening long ago or first: early humans, early cars. tree →

sense in the lessons

In everyday life: get up early, early to bed; arrive early for school; in safety, leave early so you don't rush across roads. In history: early people, early inventions. In maths and time problems: «earlier» means before; «5 minutes early» means 5 minutes before the set time. Phrases: early bird, early morning, early on, early night, the early bird catches the worm, earlier than, at the earliest.

examples

• I got up early to watch the sunrise. tree →
• The train arrived ten minutes early. tree →
• We had an early night before the trip. tree →
• The early bird catches the worm. tree →
• Early people made tools from stone. tree →
• Spring flowers bloom early in the year. tree →
• Come earlier next time. tree →
• If school starts at 8:45 and you arrive at 8:30, you are 15 minutes early. tree →
• ‘Whither away so early, Little Red-Cap?’ tree →

note

Comparisons: earlier, earliest (y → i). Opposite: late. Say «ER-lee». In maths: «early» means before the set time, so subtract: 9:00 − 10 minutes early = 8:50.

In the corpora

• Many people are paid early in December, before Christmas, so January feels very long with the money already spent.
• Sorting it is the grown-ups' job, not the child's, and asking for help early is the sensible move.
• A final demand is a warning that a bill is very overdue and stronger action will follow, so acting early is easier.
• Many parents wait about three months before telling people, because the early weeks are the most uncertain.
• Morning sickness is feeling or being sick in early pregnancy, and despite the name it can happen at any time of day.

Trees and pragmatics

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