focus

«focus» in Mova's school dictionary: to give all your attention to one thing — 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

verb (focus, focuses / focusses, focused / focussed, focusing / focussing); noun (a focus, focuses / foci)

meaning for a pupil

1) To focus means to give all your attention to one thing. tree →

2) The focus is the main thing people are paying attention to. tree →

3) To focus a camera, eyes or a lens means to adjust it so you see clearly and sharply. tree →

4) In focus means clear and sharp; out of focus means blurry. tree →

5) In science, the focus is the point where rays of light meet after passing through a lens. tree →

sense in the lessons

In school: «focus on your work», a lesson's «focus», «stay focused»; focusing is easier when you have had sleep, food and few distractions. In science: lenses, magnifying glasses and eyes focus light; the eye's lens changes shape to focus. Safety: a magnifying glass can focus sunlight into a spot hot enough to start a fire. Phrases: «focus on», «stay focused», «lose focus», «in focus», «out of focus», «the focus of».

examples

• Focus on the question before you answer. tree →
• Turn off the TV so you can focus on your homework. tree →
• The photo is out of focus. tree →
• Turn the knob to focus the microscope. tree →
• The focus of today's lesson is fractions. tree →
• A magnifying glass can focus sunlight and burn paper. tree →
• She stayed focused for the whole test. tree →
• My eyes took a moment to focus in the dark. tree →

note

Both «focused» and «focussed» are correct; «focused» is more common. Used with «on»: «focus on the task». Plural noun: «focuses» or, in science, «foci».

In the corpora

• Focused practice means practising with full attention on one goal; watching the clock while repeating easy parts changes very little.
• Staying calm helps you think; panic does not sharpen your focus.
• Looking at something far away lets the focusing muscles of the eyes relax.
• Attention is limited: the brain cannot focus fully on two demanding things at the same time.
• A magnifying glass in sunshine focuses heat that burns insects, so it is never used on living things.

Trees and pragmatics

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