poll

«poll» in Mova's school dictionary: a survey in which many people are asked the same question… — 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

noun (a poll, polls; the polls); verb (poll, polls, polled, polling)

meaning for a pupil

1) A poll is a survey in which many people are asked the same question to find out what most of them think. tree →

2) The polls are an election, the time when people vote: «go to the polls». tree →

3) To poll people is to ask them questions in a survey. tree →

4) (formal) The number of votes in an election. tree →

5) (old use) The head; a «poll tax» is a tax that every person must pay. tree →

sense in the lessons

In maths and data lessons, children take a class poll (for example favourite fruit), then make a tally chart and bar chart. In the news, opinion polls show who might win an election. Phrases: «opinion poll», «take a poll», «exit poll», «polling station», «go to the polls».

examples

• We took a poll to choose the class pet. tree →
• The poll showed that most pupils like pizza best. tree →
• Grown-ups vote at a polling station. tree →
• The country goes to the polls next month. tree →
• The newspaper polled a thousand people. tree →
• An exit poll asks people how they voted as they leave. tree →
• Twelve of the twenty-five children voted for a hamster in the poll. tree →
• Its little brothers and sisters around the bed were flat-nosed imps with pointed ears, who made faces at one another, and scratched their polls. tree →

note

Noun and verb, past «polled». In maths, results of a poll can be shown as numbers, fractions or percentages: 12 out of 25 is 48 per cent. A poll asks some people, not everyone, so it can be wrong. Do not confuse with «pole» (a long stick) or «Pole» (a person from Poland).

In the corpora

• Polls are different: they are not selling, they are guessing.
• Some countries ban new polls in the last days before voting.
• Polls in Taiwan have shown most people want to keep things as they are, neither declaring full independence nor joining China.
• Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that have the corners of their hair polled;
• Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only poll their heads.

Trees and pragmatics

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