generation

«generation» in Mova's school dictionary: all the people born and living at about the same time… — 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 (a generation, generations; generation — uncountable, of making power)

meaning for a pupil

1) A generation is all the people born and living at about the same time, like children, parents or grandparents. tree →

2) A generation is the time it takes children to grow up and have their own children, about 25–30 years. tree →

3) Generation means making something, especially electricity: power generation. tree →

4) A generation of a product is one version of it, like a new generation of phones. tree →

sense in the lessons

In family and history lessons, a family tree shows generations: you, your parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. In science, generation is producing electricity from wind, sun or water. In stories, a secret or a house is «passed down from generation to generation». Phrases: «younger generation», «older generation», «from generation to generation», «next generation», «electricity generation».

examples

• Three generations of my family live in our house. tree →
• The recipe was passed down from generation to generation. tree →
• My grandparents' generation didn't have mobile phones. tree →
• Wind farms are used for electricity generation. tree →
• The younger generation loves video games. tree →
• A family tree shows four generations. tree →
• The new generation of tablets is faster. tree →
• Our generation must look after the planet. tree →
• But the vow was broken, and for nine generations of men none of the Lambtons died in his bed. tree →

note

Countable for groups (generations); uncountable for making power. Verb: generate. Maths: a «generation» of 25–30 years means about three or four generations per century.

In the corpora

• Taming means changing a whole kind of animal over many generations, not training one animal.
• China was ruled by dynasties, families passing power from parent to child, like a football club owned by one family for generations.
• At about 25 years per generation, 1,000 years is about 40 generations of parents and children.
• Future generations are the people who will live after us; fairness includes not using up what they will need.
• Adaptations develop over many generations, not in one animal's life.

Trees and pragmatics

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