sell
part of speech
verb (sell, sells, sold, selling); noun (a hard sell — rare)
meaning for a pupil
1) To sell is to give something to someone for money. tree →
2) Something sells when people buy it, as in «The book sells well». tree →
3) To sell an idea is to make people like it or agree with it. tree →
sense in the lessons
an action that takes things away from the seller and brings in money; in everyday life: shops, bake sales, garage sales; phrases «sell out» (sell all), «for sale», «on sale», «sell for»
examples
- The baker sold 75 cakes. tree →
- She sells lemonade for 2 dollars a cup. tree →
- How many cakes did he sell in all? tree →
- He sold 8 more than yesterday. tree →
- The concert tickets sold out in an hour. tree →
- We sold old toys at a garage sale. tree →
- The shop sells shoes and bags. tree →
- The house is for sale. tree →
- He sold his bike to his cousin. tree →
- Ice cream sells best in summer. tree →
note
Takes away from what the seller has; money earned = number sold × price. Trap: «how many did he sell» may ask for the sold amount, not what is left. Past form «sold», not «selled». «Sell» sounds like «cell». The opposite is «buy».
In the corpora
- Buying, selling or renting a home has many steps, and things can take months or fall through.
- A "For Sale" board means the family has decided to sell the house, and selling usually takes months, not days.
- An estate agent helps sell houses, and viewings are when people who might buy come to look round.
- A tidy house helps buyers imagine living there and can sell faster or for more money.
- Vapes are made colourful and sweet-tasting, and selling them to under-18s is against the law.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «sell» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.