inventory
part of speech
noun (an inventory, inventories); verb (inventory, inventories, inventoried, inventorying — mostly US)
meaning for a pupil
1) A complete list of all the things in a place, such as goods in a shop or items in a house. tree →
2) All the goods a shop or company has in store, ready to sell (stock). tree →
3) (games) The list or box of things a player carries in a video game. tree →
4) (verb) To make a full list of things. tree →
sense in the lessons
In maths it appears in shop and stock problems (counting, adding and taking away items); in business and everyday life shops «take inventory»; in video games your inventory holds your tools and treasure. In stories, a character may make an inventory of what they have when lost or shipwrecked. Phrases: take (an) inventory, inventory list, in the inventory.
examples
- The shop takes an inventory of everything on the shelves each January. tree →
- Robinson made an inventory of the things he saved from the wreck. tree →
- My inventory is full, so I can't pick up the sword. tree →
- The library inventory shows 3,000 books. tree →
- Before we moved, Mum made an inventory of the furniture. tree →
- The toy shop's inventory ran low before Christmas. tree →
- If the inventory had 120 pens and 45 were sold, 75 are left. tree →
note
Countable: an inventory, inventories (y → ies). UK English often uses «stock» for goods; «inventory» is more US. Stress: IN-ven-tor-y (UK often IN-ven-tree). Do not confuse with «invention». In maths problems it is the starting amount of items, usually changed by sales (subtract) and deliveries (add).
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «inventory» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.