ocean
part of speech
noun (an ocean, oceans)
meaning for a pupil
1) The huge body of salt water that covers most of the Earth. tree →
2) One of its five big named parts: the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Southern and Arctic Oceans. tree →
3) A very large amount (informal: oceans of time). tree →
sense in the lessons
In geography: oceans cover about 71% of Earth's surface; the Pacific is the biggest and deepest; continents sit between oceans. In science: ocean water is salty; tides are caused mainly by the Moon; whales, sharks and coral live in oceans; plastic pollution harms sea life. In safety: rip currents, waves and tides at the beach — swim between the flags. Phrases: the ocean floor, ocean waves, ocean currents, across the ocean, deep ocean.
examples
- The Pacific Ocean is the largest ocean. tree →
- Oceans cover most of our planet. tree →
- Ocean water is too salty to drink. tree →
- Whales live in the ocean. tree →
- Plastic bags can hurt animals in the ocean. tree →
- We sailed across the Atlantic Ocean. tree →
- The ocean floor is dark and cold. tree →
- In the US people say «the ocean» where people in the UK often say «the sea». tree →
note
Countable: an ocean (with «an»). Say «OH-shun». Names have capitals: the Indian Ocean. An ocean is much bigger than a sea; seas are smaller parts often next to land. In maths: «71% of the Earth is ocean» means about 7 parts in 10.
In the corpora
- Many sharks are endangered because they grow slowly and have few young, and they keep oceans healthy by eating sick fish.
- Coral reefs cover less than 1 per cent of the ocean floor but are home to about a quarter of all sea fish species.
- The Galapagos penguin lives on the equator, kept cool by cold ocean currents.
- Sea turtles have lived in the oceans since the time of the dinosaurs.
- Whales poo near the surface and feed the ocean.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «ocean» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.