prof
part of speech
noun (informal, short for professor: a prof, profs; Prof. as a title)
meaning for a pupil
1) Informal short form of «professor»: a teacher of the highest rank at a university. tree →
2) Prof.: written short form used as a title before a name (Prof. Jane Smith). tree →
sense in the lessons
In stories and films, «the Prof» is often a nickname for a clever scientist or inventor character. Real professors teach and do research at universities. In school children rarely use the word; it is informal or a written short form.
examples
- Prof. Ada Smith is an expert on insects. tree →
- The students asked their prof for help. tree →
- In the cartoon, everyone called the inventor «the Prof». tree →
- A professor teaches at a university. tree →
- My aunt is a prof of chemistry. tree →
- The prof showed the class a robot she had built. tree →
note
«Prof» is informal; in writing a title it is «Prof.» (often with a full stop) and «Professor» in full is more polite. In the USA, «professor» is used for many university teachers; in the UK, Ireland and Australia it is only for the most senior ones.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «prof» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.