precious
part of speech
adjective (precious); adverb (precious little / few — informal)
meaning for a pupil
1) Precious means very valuable, worth a lot of money («precious stones», «precious metals»). tree →
2) Precious means very important and loved, not to be wasted or lost («precious memories», «time is precious»). tree →
3) Informally, precious can mean too fussy or delicate. tree →
4) «Precious little» means very little. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science and geography «precious metals» (gold, silver, platinum) and «precious stones» (diamonds, rubies) are rare and valuable. In everyday life and stories it shows how much something is loved: a precious toy, a precious pet, precious water in a desert. Phrases: «precious stones», «precious time», «my precious».
examples
- Gold and silver are precious metals. tree →
- Water is precious in the desert. tree →
- This old photo is precious to Grandma. tree →
- Diamonds and rubies are precious stones. tree →
- Don't waste precious time; start your homework. tree →
- The baby is very precious to her parents. tree →
- There is precious little food left in the fridge. tree →
- The dragon guarded its precious treasure. tree →
- Just see those precious stones lying there! tree →
note
No comparative ending: use «more precious», «most precious». Trap: «precious little» means almost none. «Precious» things may be valuable for love, not money.
In the corpora
- A keepsake can be very precious even when it is worth little money, so you should ask before touching it.
- Long ago aluminium was so hard to get out of rock that it was more precious than gold.
- Gold, silver and platinum are precious metals: rare, beautiful, and hardly reacting with air, although silver slowly tarnishes.
- Precious wants to cry and run; instead she fires back, «So?
- In Birmingham, Precious's brother has leukaemia, a blood cancer, and is in hospital for months.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «precious» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.