operation
part of speech
noun (operation, operations)
meaning for a pupil
1) In maths, an operation is a way of working with numbers: add, subtract, multiply or divide. tree →
2) An operation is when a doctor (a surgeon) fixes something inside the body. tree →
3) An operation is a planned piece of work done by many people: a rescue operation. tree →
sense in the lessons
the four ways to calculate («all four operations»); the goal of reading a word problem is to choose the operation; some problems need two operations; in everyday life a hospital operation; in news a rescue operation
examples
- Today we practise all four operations together. tree →
- Which operation do we use here? tree →
- This problem needs two operations. tree →
- Adding and subtracting are opposite operations. tree →
- Grandpa had an operation on his knee. tree →
- The doctors did the operation in the morning. tree →
- A big rescue operation found the lost hikers. tree →
- Here is another instance of a life-giving operation of a double nature. tree →
note
The goal of reading a problem is to choose the operation. Trap: some problems need two operations, one after the other. Adding and subtracting undo each other; so do multiplying and dividing. Verb «operate».
In the corpora
- A waiting list is a queue for a non-urgent operation, and in the NHS the wait can be months.
- Later Mum explains: Grandpa needs a small operation and they were planning the trip to visit him.
- A cone round a pet's neck after an operation stops it licking its stitches, because licking can open the wound.
- "A procedure" in hospital talk means an operation or surgery.
- "Had some work done" means had cosmetic surgery, operations on the face or body that change how a person looks.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «operation» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.