scaffolding

«scaffolding» in Mova's school dictionary: a frame of metal poles and wooden boards put up against a… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (scaffolding — uncountable; a piece of scaffolding); verb form of «scaffold» (scaffold, scaffolds, scaffolded, scaffolding)

meaning for a pupil

1) Scaffolding is a frame of metal poles and wooden boards put up against a building so workers can stand on it while they build, paint or repair. tree →

2) In school, scaffolding means the extra help a teacher gives you at the start of learning something, which is taken away step by step as you get better. tree →

3) Scaffolding is any support that holds something up while it is being made. tree →

sense in the lessons

In everyday life you see scaffolding on houses and big buildings being built or mended; safety rules say children must never climb it. In teaching, «scaffolding» describes help such as sentence starters, word banks or worked examples. In stories, a building «covered in scaffolding» tells the reader it is being repaired or built.

examples

• The church tower is covered in scaffolding. tree →
• Builders put up scaffolding to paint the house. tree →
• Never climb on scaffolding — it is not a playground. tree →
• A pole fell off the scaffolding, so the street was closed. tree →
• The teacher gave us scaffolding: the first line of each answer. tree →
• Writing frames are a kind of scaffolding for your story. tree →
• They took the scaffolding down when the roof was finished. tree →
• Workers on the scaffolding wear hard hats and harnesses. tree →

note

Usually uncountable: «some scaffolding», «a lot of scaffolding», not «a scaffolding»; for one part say «a scaffolding pole». «A scaffold» can also mean an old platform for hanging criminals.

In the corpora

• Its hollow stems with solid joints are strong and light, so Hong Kong builders still tie bamboo poles into scaffolding round skyscrapers.
• Builders in Hong Kong still use bamboo scaffolding tied with plastic strips, though more and more metal scaffolding is used there too.

Trees and pragmatics

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