mostly

«mostly» in Mova's school dictionary: almost all, or the biggest part — 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

adverb

meaning for a pupil

1) Mostly means almost all, or the biggest part. tree →

2) Mostly means usually, most of the time. tree →

sense in the lessons

In reading, mostly tells you something is true for the largest part but not all. In science, the Earth's surface is mostly water; air is mostly nitrogen. In maths and data, "mostly" points to the biggest group in a chart. Phrases: mostly sunny, made mostly of, mostly true.

examples

• The sky was mostly blue with a few clouds. tree →
• The Earth's surface is mostly covered by water. tree →
• I mostly walk to school. tree →
• The class was mostly girls. tree →
• The story is mostly true. tree →
• Our dog eats mostly dry food. tree →
• When she was old enough to ask them they were mostly about Peter Pan. tree →

note

Mostly is not the same as "all": mostly true still has a part that is false. Do not confuse "mostly" with "most": "most children" (adjective) but "the children were mostly happy" (adverb). In a maths problem, "mostly" means more than half, but you cannot get an exact number from it.

In the corpora

• The news mostly reports the worst and most urgent events, because that is what feels important to report.
• A shark's skeleton is made of cartilage, which is lighter and bendier than bone, so shark fossils are mostly teeth.
• The octopus's body heart stops while it swims, so swimming tires it quickly, and octopuses mostly crawl over the rocks instead.
• Chameleons change colour mostly to show their mood and to warm up or cool down, not mainly to match the background.
• Wild rabbits mostly eat grass, clover and leafy plants; carrots are sugary and should be only a small treat for pet rabbits.

Trees and pragmatics

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