led
part of speech
verb (past and past participle of «lead»: lead, leads, led, leading)
meaning for a pupil
1) Showed the way by going in front (she led us to the park). tree →
2) Was in charge of a group or team. tree →
3) Was winning or in first place. tree →
4) Caused something to happen (led to). tree →
5) Went in a certain direction (the path led to the river). tree →
6) Lived a certain kind of life (led a happy life). tree →
sense in the lessons
Common in stories, history (who led the army) and sport (led by 2 goals). In maths, a team that led by 3 points was 3 points ahead. Phrases: «led to», «led by», «led the way», «be led astray».
examples
- The guide led us through the cave. tree →
- Our captain led the team to victory. tree →
- At half time, our team led by two goals. tree →
- The path led down to the beach. tree →
- Too much sugar led to a toothache. tree →
- She led a busy life. tree →
- The parade was led by a marching band. tree →
- She now led Gerda into the flower-garden. tree →
note
Homophone trap: «led» (past of «lead») sounds like «lead» the metal (Pb), but the metal is spelled «lead». Write «she led», never «she lead» for the past. In maths: «led by 5» = ahead by 5 (difference between scores is 5).
In the corpora
- Ring-tailed lemurs live in groups of about 6 to 30 led by females, who get first choice of food.
- Orca groups are led by old grandmothers who can live 80 or even 90 years and remember where salmon are in bad years.
- An elephant family is led by its oldest female, the matriarch, who remembers water holes, paths and dangers over decades.
- The Otter, who knew all the paths, took charge of the party and led them home.
- Zoo barriers keep people far enough away that an animal cannot reach them; climbing over one has led to serious injuries.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «led» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.