instrument

«instrument» in Mova's school dictionary: a thing used to make music, like a piano, guitar, violin… — 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 (instrument, instruments)

meaning for a pupil

1) An instrument is a thing used to make music, like a piano, guitar, violin, flute or drum. tree →

2) An instrument is also a tool for measuring or doing careful work, like a ruler, thermometer or a doctor's tools. tree →

sense in the lessons

In maths: musical instruments counted in a band or shop, priced or compared; or a measuring instrument (ruler, protractor, scales). In music: string, wind, brass and percussion instruments. In science: instruments measure temperature, weight and time. Phrases: musical instrument, play an instrument, measuring instrument, string instrument.

examples

• The band has 14 instruments. tree →
• Each student plays one instrument. tree →
• A violin costs $90 more than a flute. tree →
• A thermometer is an instrument for measuring temperature. tree →
• Which instrument do you play? tree →
• The drum is a percussion instrument. tree →
• A protractor is an instrument for measuring angles. tree →
• The pilot checked the instruments before take-off. tree →
• Go down and ask him what the instrument costs.’ tree →

note

Countable. «Play an instrument», «play the piano». Usually just the thing counted; no clue to the operation. Trap: in «a violin costs $90 more than a flute» the violin is the bigger price, so add.

In the corpora

• Many teachers suggest giving a new instrument at least a full term before deciding, and recording yourself shows your progress.
• The family of an instrument depends on how the sound is made, not on its material.
• The bandura is a Ukrainian plucked string instrument; modern concert banduras have around 55 to 65 strings.
• The steel pan was developed in Trinidad and Tobago in the 20th century from oil drums and is its national instrument.
• In the string family bigger instruments play lower: from highest to lowest they are violin, viola, cello and double bass.

Trees and pragmatics

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