proper

«proper» in Mova's school dictionary: Right, correct or suitable for the situation: "the proper… — 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

adjective (proper, more proper, most proper)

meaning for a pupil

1) Right, correct or suitable for the situation: "the proper way to hold a pencil". tree →

2) Real, true: "a proper meal", not just a snack. tree →

3) Polite and well-behaved, following the rules of good manners. tree →

4) In maths, a proper fraction is one where the top number is smaller than the bottom number. tree →

sense in the lessons

In everyday life "proper" tells you the right way or the right thing: proper clothes for the weather, proper equipment for safety. In maths, a proper fraction is less than one whole, like 3/4. In grammar, a proper noun is the name of a particular person, place or thing and starts with a capital letter. Phrases: proper noun, proper fraction, the proper way, proper manners, a proper meal.

examples

• Wear proper shoes for the hike. tree →
• Put the toys back in their proper place. tree →
• "London" is a proper noun, so it starts with a capital letter. tree →
• 3/4 is a proper fraction. tree →
• After the snack we had a proper dinner. tree →
• It is proper to say thank you. tree →
• Use the proper tool for the job. tree →
• That is the proper way to fight. tree →

note

The adverb is "properly": "Wash your hands properly." The opposite is "improper". Proper noun: Sydney, Mia, Monday — capital letter; common noun: city, girl, day. Proper fraction: numerator smaller than denominator, so its value is less than 1; an improper fraction such as 7/4 is 1 or more. In British speech "proper" can also mean "really": "a proper mess".

In the corpora

• Rules and laws are shared agreements; people follow them even when they dislike them, and change bad ones through proper ways.
• Death hoaxes about famous people spread fast because they are shocking; check a proper news site before believing or sharing one.
• Before believing a shocking story, look it up on a proper news site, and check its date.
• Pets need proper food made for their kind; rich human food, like a cat eating lasagne, can make them ill.
• Mother Jaguar: «Everything has its proper name.

Trees and pragmatics

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