follow
part of speech
verb (follow, follows, followed, following)
meaning for a pupil
1) To follow is to go or come after someone or something. tree →
2) To follow is to come next in order or time. tree →
3) To follow rules or instructions is to do what they say. tree →
4) To follow a story or an explanation is to understand it. tree →
5) To follow a road or a river is to go along it. tree →
sense in the lessons
maths: shows order in a pattern or sequence («the number that follows» means one more); «the following day/week» means the next one in time; follow the steps of a method; school: follow the instructions; science: follow the method of an experiment; safety: follow the rules, follow the fire drill route; stories: the ducklings followed their mother
examples
- Which number follows 49? tree →
- The ducks follow their mother in a line. tree →
- Follow the pattern 2, 4, 6. tree →
- The following week he saved 5 dollars more. tree →
- Follow the instructions carefully. tree →
- Follow the path to the lake. tree →
- Spring follows winter. tree →
- Can you follow the story? tree →
- "Follow me," said the dead woman. tree →
note
«The number that follows» means one more; «the following day/week» means the next one in time. Otherwise it gives no clue about the operation. «As follows» introduces a list.
In the corpora
- Shops, hospitals, buses and factories need people at all hours, so their workers follow a rota that can change every week.
- A final demand is a warning that a bill is very overdue and stronger action will follow, so acting early is easier.
- Rules and laws are shared agreements; people follow them even when they dislike them, and change bad ones through proper ways.
- A work mood can follow a grown-up home and usually fades within an hour or so.
- Accounts that post gossip about real pupils should not be followed or shared; they should be reported.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «follow» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.