give
part of speech
verb (give, gives, gave, given, giving); noun (give — stretch, as in «the rope has some give»)
meaning for a pupil
1) To give is to let someone have something of yours: give a present. tree →
2) To give is to pass or hand something: give me the salt. tree →
3) To give is to do an action: give a hug, give a talk. tree →
4) To give up is to stop trying. tree →
5) To give way is to let others go first, or to break. tree →
6) To give in is to stop arguing and let the other side win. tree →
7) (casual) «Give us a go» (UK, Australia) means let me have a turn; «give or take» means about, more or less; «I don't give a toss» (rude, UK) means I don't care. tree →
8) (rough) «Give it here!», «give it back!» demand something roughly; «give someone a hard time» means to tease or nag them. tree →
9) (formal) The exam voice says «donate», «transfer», «allocate», «bestow», «furnish», «relinquish» (give up), and «given that» means «we know that». tree →
sense in the lessons
moving things from one person to another (the giver has less, the receiver more); «gives each of N children M» = equal groups (multiply); in everyday life «give back», «give away», «give up», «give in», «give way» (a road sign in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand); in stories kindness and gifts; in casual talk «give us a go», «give or take»; in rough talk «give it here»; in the exam voice «transfers», «allocates», «relinquishes», and «given that» to introduce the facts
examples
- Ben has 6 books. Ben gives 3 books to a friend. How many books are left? tree →
- Anna has 17 stickers. A friend gives Anna 5 more stickers. tree →
- Mum gives each of her 3 children 4 sweets. tree →
- Give the ball back, please. tree →
- Grandpa gave me a book for my birthday. tree →
- The teacher gave us a hard test. tree →
- Never give up! tree →
- Cars must give way to people at the crossing. tree →
- Give it here, it's my turn! tree →
- about 30 people coming, give or take tree →
- gave 4 to my sister, no wait, 5, how many left out of 12 tree →
- Given that Ben transfers 3 of his 6 volumes to an associate, determine the number he retains. tree →
- "Give me my Bunny!" he said. tree →
note
Ask who gives to whom: the giver has less (subtract), the receiver has more (add); «transfers» and «allocates» in an exam work the same way. Trap: «gives each of N children M» is equal groups: multiply. Past «gave», past participle «given». «give up» means stop, not a number change. «give or take» means about. In a self-correction («gave 4, no wait, 5») the last number counts: 12 − 5 = 7. «Given that» in an exam is not giving anything: it introduces the facts.
In the corpora
- Pocket money is a small regular amount given to children to practise choosing, saving and making mistakes with money.
- Debt advice charities give free, private help to make a plan for paying debts back at a pace the family can manage.
- A food bank is a charity that gives free food parcels, usually after a referral from someone like a school or a doctor.
- Being engaged means two people have promised to marry each other, and a ring is often given as a sign of the promise.
- When they want to help, they give money to charities, get sponsored for a challenge or volunteer their time.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «give» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.