partly
part of speech
adverb (partly)
meaning for a pupil
1) Partly means not completely; to some degree, but not all. tree →
2) Partly also means «in part, as one of the reasons», as in «partly because». tree →
sense in the lessons
In weather forecasts, «partly cloudy» or «partly sunny» means some clouds and some sun. In maths, «partly» tells you it is not the whole: a partly full glass is somewhere between empty and full; a partly coloured shape has some parts coloured (a fraction). In reasoning, «partly because» shows there is more than one reason. Phrases: «partly cloudy», «partly true», «partly to blame», «partly because».
examples
- It will be partly cloudy tomorrow. tree →
- The glass was partly full. tree →
- The story is partly true and partly made up. tree →
- I was late partly because of the rain. tree →
- The shape is partly shaded. tree →
- The door was partly open. tree →
- He was partly to blame for the broken window. tree →
- The road is partly closed for repairs. tree →
- The Fable partly agrees with, and partly differs from both of these. tree →
note
Do not confuse with «partially» (very similar meaning) or «party». «Partly» is an adverb, so it describes adjectives and verbs: «partly open», «partly finished». If something is partly done, it is more than none but less than all.
In the corpora
- In 2018 one of Banksy's paintings partly shredded itself right after it sold at auction.
- Male proboscis monkeys have long dangling noses that make their calls louder, and proboscis monkeys swim well with partly webbed feet.
- Winnie the Pooh was even named partly after a real bear, a gentle black bear called Winnipeg who lived at London Zoo.
- Toast turns brown because sugars and proteins react into new substances; burnt toast is black because it has partly turned into carbon.
- "Visually impaired" means partly or fully blind; it is the official term.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «partly» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.