punishment
part of speech
noun (a punishment, punishments; punishment)
meaning for a pupil
1) A punishment is something unpleasant done to someone because they did something wrong, like losing playtime or paying a fine. tree →
2) Punishment is the act of punishing. tree →
sense in the lessons
In school and home life a punishment follows breaking rules: detention, losing screen time, time-out. In stories the villain often gets a punishment at the end. In lessons about fairness pupils discuss whether a punishment fits what was done. Phrases: «as a punishment», «a fair punishment», «escape punishment», «crime and punishment».
examples
- As a punishment, he had no TV for a week. tree →
- Detention is a common punishment at school. tree →
- Is it fair to give the whole class a punishment for one person's mistake? tree →
- The thief got a punishment from the judge. tree →
- In the fairy tale, the wicked queen got her punishment. tree →
- A good punishment should help you learn, not just hurt. tree →
- Ingratitude sometimes brings its own punishment. tree →
note
Countable and uncountable. Verb: «punish» (punished, punishing). Opposite idea: «reward». The word ends in «-ment». «A punishment» is not the same as «a consequence», although adults sometimes use them alike.
In the corpora
- The joke: cheek gets the biggest punishment, much more than stealing.
- "Time out" means a short punishment of being sent to sit alone.
- "The naughty step" means a place where a child must sit as a punishment (UK).
- "Behaviour management" is jargon for discipline and punishment.
- Letting someone take your punishment is like stealing from them: you take their good name and their free time.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «punishment» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.