humour
part of speech
noun (humour — uncountable; a sense of humour); verb (humour, humours, humoured, humouring)
meaning for a pupil
1) The quality of being funny: «The book is full of humour». tree →
2) The ability to see what is funny and to laugh: «a good sense of humour». tree →
3) (verb) To go along with what someone wants to keep them happy, even if you don't agree: «Just humour him». tree →
4) (old) A mood: «in a good humour». tree →
sense in the lessons
In reading and writing: writers use humour (jokes, puns, silly situations) to entertain. Kind humour makes everyone laugh; hurtful «humour» at someone's expense is unkind. Phrases: «sense of humour», «good humour», «dry humour», «toilet humour».
examples
- My dad has a great sense of humour. tree →
- The story is full of humour and surprises. tree →
- We use humour to cheer each other up. tree →
- He took the joke with good humour. tree →
- Just humour Grandpa and listen to his old stories again. tree →
- Her humour is clever and kind. tree →
- “Dance away, my little man,” said Peter, who was in high good humour. tree →
note
Spelling: «humour» in British, Irish, Canadian, Australian and NZ English; «humor» in American English. Adjective: humorous (no u after o in any spelling!). Uncountable: «a lot of humour», not «humours» (except the old medical idea of four humours).
In the corpora
- The Mole digs, mostly to humour his friend, who he thinks is going a bit mad.
- When a word ends in -our, the u usually drops before -ous: humour, humorous; glamour, glamorous.
- Before -ous, -our usually loses its u: humour, humorous; glamour, glamorous.
- Not every joke lands, and that is okay; humour depends on the moment and the people.
- Humour can stop small teasing; if it keeps going, or it's about your family, tell an adult.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «humour» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.