expecting
part of speech
phrase (adjective use of «expect»: be expecting, is expecting, was expecting; «expecting a baby»); verb (expect, expects, expected, expecting)
meaning for a pupil
1) (euphemism) pregnant, going to have a baby. tree →
2) waiting for something you think will come or happen: «I'm expecting a parcel». tree →
3) thinking something will probably happen: «we're expecting rain». tree →
sense in the lessons
Used in place of the plainer «pregnant», which some people once felt was too blunt; polite and everyday, all regions, very common in family talk and gossip. In maths and science, «expecting» or «expected» means predicted: «the expected answer».
examples
- My aunt is expecting, so I'm going to be a cousin! tree →
- They announced they were expecting their second child. tree →
- Is she expecting? She's been looking a bit tired. tree →
- We're expecting twins in the autumn. tree →
- I'm expecting a call from the dentist. tree →
- The weather forecasters are expecting heavy snow tonight. tree →
- The teacher was expecting the answer to be 24. tree →
- "Expecting what?" asked Tom, who didn't understand the grown-ups. tree →
- We're expecting a bridegroom, but the confounded fellow has disappeared." tree →
note
Trap: «she is expecting» with no object means she is going to have a baby; «she is expecting a letter» means waiting. Don't guess the meaning without the object. Plain word: pregnant. In a word problem «expected» means the predicted number.
In the corpora
- Grown-ups often say "we're expecting" instead of "pregnant".
- "We're expecting" means a baby is growing inside Mum and will be born in a few months.
- Pregnancy has many soft and funny names, from the polite "expecting" to the joking "a bun in the oven".
- "Expecting" means pregnant; it is polite.
- Jake joins boxing «to get hard, innit», expecting the big lads to batter him.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «expecting» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.