ring

«ring» in Mova's school dictionary: a round band, like one worn on a finger — 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

noun (ring, rings); verb (ring, rings, rang, rung, ringing; ring, rings, ringed, ringing — to circle)

meaning for a pupil

1) A ring is a round band, like one worn on a finger. tree →

2) A ring is a circle shape: sit in a ring, the rings of a tree, Saturn's rings. tree →

3) To ring is to make a bell sound, or a bell rings. tree →

4) To ring someone (UK) is to phone them. tree →

5) A ring is a place for boxing or a circus. tree →

6) To ring something (past ringed) is to draw a circle around it. tree →

sense in the lessons

In maths: things counted (rings, onion rings), the rings of a bell, or a circle; a bell that rings every so many minutes; ring-toss games. In science: tree rings show the age of a tree (one ring each year); Saturn's rings are made of ice and rock. In everyday life: the doorbell rings, ring a friend. In stories: a magic ring, a ring of fairies.

examples

• She has 6 rings on her fingers. tree →
• The bell rings every 45 minutes. tree →
• A ring costs $35. tree →
• He tossed 10 rings and 4 landed on the peg. tree →
• Count the rings to find how old the tree is. tree →
• Saturn has wide, bright rings. tree →
• The children sat in a ring on the carpet. tree →
• I'll ring you after school. tree →
• Ring the right answer with your pencil. tree →
• The phone rang three times. tree →

note

Things counted or an event that repeats every so many minutes (division of time). Trap: «the bell rang 3 times» counts rings, not hours. Forms: ring, rang, rung for sounds; ringed for drawing circles. Homophone: wring (to twist water out). Tree rings: one ring for each year of growth.

In the corpora

• Being engaged means two people have promised to marry each other, and a ring is often given as a sign of the promise.
• Doctors have more patients than time, so getting an appointment can mean ringing early or waiting weeks.
• In Manchester, Mum sits with the phone at 7.59, ready to ring the surgery the second it opens.
• In an emergency you ring 999, not the GP.
• Parents may ring other parents after a sleepover; this is to keep all the children safe, not to get anyone in trouble.

Trees and pragmatics

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