exist
part of speech
verb (exist, exists, existed, existing); noun: existence
meaning for a pupil
1) To be real; to be present in the world or in a place. tree →
2) To live or stay alive, especially in a hard way (to exist on very little food). tree →
sense in the lessons
In science and history it is used to ask what is real: dinosaurs existed long ago; some animals no longer exist (extinct). In stories and fairy tales characters wonder if dragons or magic exist. In media literacy: just because something is online doesn't mean it exists or is true. Phrases: no longer exist, still exist, does it exist?, existing (already there).
examples
- Dinosaurs existed millions of years ago. tree →
- Do you think aliens exist? tree →
- Dodos no longer exist — they are extinct. tree →
- Water exists as ice, liquid and steam. tree →
- Unicorns don't exist except in stories. tree →
- This old castle has existed for 800 years. tree →
- Plants could not exist without sunlight. tree →
- He could exist here, he said, well enough. tree →
note
«Exist» is not usually used in the -ing form for states: say «Dragons don't exist», not «aren't existing». Spelling: existence (with -ence). «Extinct» = no longer exists (for living things).
In the corpora
- Speed limits exist because faster cars cause worse accidents, especially near schools and homes.
- Bots can invent book titles and authors that sound real but do not exist.
- AI "detectors" exist, but they make mistakes and can wrongly accuse honest pupils.
- Some fundraising scams use AI-made videos of animals or people that do not exist to get money from kind viewers.
- Robot pets already exist, but they are not living animals and do not need or feel care the way real pets do.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «exist» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.