first
part of speech
adverb, adjective, determiner; noun (the first; a first — top university grade, UK); pronoun
meaning for a pupil
1) First means before anything or anyone else: first in line. tree →
2) First means number one in order (1st): the first day. tree →
3) First can mean at the start, at the beginning: At first I was scared. tree →
4) «First» in a race means the winner. tree →
5) A first is something never done before: a first for our school. tree →
6) (casual) «Bagsy first!», «dibs on first», «me first!» claim the first turn; «first up» (Australia, NZ) means first of all. tree →
7) (rough) «First come, first served» and «you snooze, you lose» mean the slow get nothing. tree →
8) (formal) The exam voice says «initially», «in the first instance», «at the outset», «primarily», «prior to all else». tree →
sense in the lessons
the first step («First decide …»), or the first part of a story, which often gives the starting amount («First Mia had 6 stickers»); in maths ordinal numbers first, second, third (1st, 2nd, 3rd); in safety «first aid», «safety first»; in everyday life «first come, first served», «first thing in the morning», «at first sight»; in casual talk «me first!», «first up»; in the exam voice «initially», «at the outset», «in the first instance»
examples
- First decide: are things coming together, or going away? tree →
- Read the whole problem first, then choose. tree →
- First Mia had 6 stickers, then she got 4 more. tree →
- Sara came first in the race. tree →
- My first tooth fell out today. tree →
- At first the puzzle seemed hard. tree →
- January is the first month of the year. tree →
- Wash your hands first, then eat. tree →
- We learned first aid at school. tree →
- me first! i called it! tree →
- First up, who's had brekkie? tree →
- Initially, Mia possessed 6 stickers; she subsequently acquired 4 additional stickers. Determine the final quantity. tree →
- At first I refused to go. tree →
note
Orders the steps; «first» often gives the starting amount; «initially» and «at the outset» in an exam do the same. No operation clue by itself. Short form «1st». Order words: first, second, third, fourth. Trap: «the first 3 days» counts days 1, 2 and 3. «came first» is a place in a race, not an amount. In a story the first number is not always the start: read for «had», «at first», «initially».
In the corpora
- One coat of paint often looks patchy, so a second coat is painted on once the first is dry.
- Mixing two families takes time, and it is normal to find it hard at first.
- Many children call a step-parent by their first name, and it is fine to ask what to call them.
- A midwife is a nurse trained to care for women and babies during pregnancy, birth and the first days after.
- Asking what will happen first makes it less strange.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «first» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.