evolve
part of speech
verb (evolve, evolves, evolved, evolving)
meaning for a pupil
1) To evolve means to change slowly, over a very long time and many generations, as living things adapt to their surroundings: «whales evolved from land animals». tree →
2) To evolve also means to develop or change gradually into something more complex or better: «the plan evolved over time». tree →
3) (games) In some games, a character evolves into a new, stronger form. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science lessons «evolve» comes in evolution and inheritance: pupils learn about Charles Darwin, natural selection (living things best suited to their environment survive and have more young), fossils as evidence, and Darwin's finches. In everyday life, languages, ideas, technology and towns evolve. In Pokémon and other games, «evolve» is used loosely for a sudden change, which is different from real evolution.
examples
- Birds evolved from dinosaurs. tree →
- Living things evolve over millions of years. tree →
- Darwin explained how animals evolve by natural selection. tree →
- Giraffes with longer necks could reach more food, so the species evolved. tree →
- The English language keeps evolving. tree →
- Our project evolved from a small idea into a big show. tree →
- My game character evolved into a dragon. tree →
note
Past «evolved». Noun «evolution». Trap: one animal does not evolve in its lifetime; a species evolves over many generations. Myth: humans did not evolve from monkeys we see today; we share ancestors. Some people believe God created life; Christians hold different views on how creation and evolution fit together.
In the corpora
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «evolve» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.