rarely

«rarely» in Mova's school dictionary: not often; almost never — 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

adverb

meaning for a pupil

1) Rarely means not often; almost never. tree →

2) Rarely can also mean unusually, as in «a rarely beautiful day» (older use). tree →

sense in the lessons

In stories and reports it tells how often something happens, between «sometimes» and «never». In maths and data talk it means the event happens only a few times. Phrases: «rarely ever», «very rarely», «only rarely».

examples

• It rarely snows here in April. tree →
• My grandma rarely watches television. tree →
• We rarely eat out, so tonight is special. tree →
• Owls are rarely seen in the daytime. tree →
• He is rarely late for school. tree →
• Rarely have I seen such a big dog. tree →
• Sharks rarely attack people. tree →
• These battles between boys rarely end well. tree →

note

Frequency word: always – usually – often – sometimes – rarely – never. Goes before the main verb but after «be»: «She rarely cries», «She is rarely sad». At the start of a sentence the order flips: «Rarely do we…». Spelt rare + ly, keep the e.

In the corpora

• Big family gatherings bring together relatives who rarely meet, and they can be fun and stressful at the same time.
• Asking the other parent after one says no rarely ends well.
• A playlist made only from your old habits rarely brings you something truly new.
• A missing piece rarely ruins a model: builders swap in another brick, and single pieces can be ordered.
• Roadrunners get most of the water they need from the animals they eat and rarely drink.

Trees and pragmatics

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