explanation

«explanation» in Mova's school dictionary: what you say or write to make something clear and easy to… — 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

noun (explanation, explanations)

meaning for a pupil

1) An explanation is what you say or write to make something clear and easy to understand: an explanation of how plants grow. tree →

2) An explanation is a reason given for something that happened: is there an explanation for why you are late? tree →

sense in the lessons

At school, pupils write explanations (a genre in English: how or why something happens, with steps, «because», «so» and «therefore»); in maths, they must explain their working, not just give the answer; in science, they give explanations for results using evidence. In everyday life and manners, giving an honest explanation when you have done something wrong is better than excuses. Phrases: give an explanation, a clear explanation, explanation for, explanation of, no explanation.

examples

• The teacher gave a clear explanation of fractions. tree →
• Can you give me an explanation for being late? tree →
• Write an explanation of how the water cycle works. tree →
• There must be a simple explanation for the strange noise. tree →
• In maths, show your working and an explanation. tree →
• He left without any explanation. tree →
• Scientists look for an explanation that fits the evidence. tree →
• "Princess," exclaimed the nurse, "we cannot tell what you allude to without more explanation." tree →

note

Countable: explanations. Spelling trap: the verb is «explain» (with «ai»), but the noun is «explanation» (no «i»). Similar: reason; an «excuse» is a reason given to avoid blame, sometimes not true.

In the corpora

• Long extra explanations can hide mistakes, even when the main answer is right.
• Bots often cannot look inside themselves, so their explanations of their own mistakes may be made up.
• A bot never gets impatient with repeated explanations, but you should still tell your teacher what you found hard.
• Scientists even borrowed Kipling's title: they call a neat explanation that nobody has tested «a just-so story».
• The adventures first: explanations take such a dreadful time.»

Trees and pragmatics

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