sale
part of speech
noun (sale, sales)
meaning for a pupil
1) A sale is selling something: the sale of a house. tree →
2) A sale is a time when things cost less than usual: a summer sale. tree →
3) «For sale» means someone wants to sell it. tree →
4) «On sale» means it can be bought, or (USA) that it is cheaper than usual. tree →
5) Sales are the number of things sold, or the money from them. tree →
6) A bake sale or yard sale is an event to sell things. tree →
sense in the lessons
In maths: prices cut by an amount or percent; things sold counted; money from sales; new price = old price − discount. In everyday life: bake sales to raise money, garage sales, «for sale» signs. In stories: a house for sale with a secret.
examples
- Shirts are on sale for $5 off. tree →
- The bake sale made $120. tree →
- During the sale, prices are 20% less. tree →
- How many tickets were sold at the sale? tree →
- Our class had a bake sale for charity. tree →
- The house next door is for sale. tree →
- Tickets go on sale on Monday. tree →
- Sales of ice cream go up in summer. tree →
- We sold old toys at a yard sale. tree →
- "It's not for sale, my good man." tree →
note
«On sale» means a lower price: new price = old price − discount. Sales may be money taken in. Trap: «$5 off» is subtracted, «sells for $5» is the price itself. Trap: «20% off» means pay 80%. Homophone: sail (on a boat). «For sale» = can be bought; in the UK «on sale» usually just means available in shops.
In the corpora
- A sale lowers prices; a bargain is only a bargain if you would have bought the thing anyway.
- Example: in a house in Brisbane, a "For Sale" board goes up out the front.
- A "For Sale" board means the family has decided to sell the house, and selling usually takes months, not days.
- "Headwinds" in business means problems that hurt sales.
- "Headwinds" in business means problems that hurt sales.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «sale» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.