seriously
part of speech
adverb (seriously)
meaning for a pupil
1) Seriously means in a serious way, not joking: Take your homework seriously. tree →
2) Seriously means very badly: seriously hurt. tree →
3) «Seriously?» is said when you are surprised or cannot believe something. tree →
sense in the lessons
In safety lessons: take warnings seriously, and get help fast if someone is seriously hurt (call emergency services). In stories and conversation, «seriously?» shows surprise or annoyance. Phrases: take seriously, seriously ill, seriously injured, seriously though.
examples
- Please take fire drills seriously. tree →
- He was seriously hurt in the fall. tree →
- Are you seriously eating ice cream for breakfast? tree →
- Seriously, I am not joking! tree →
- She takes her swimming very seriously. tree →
- The storm seriously damaged the roof. tree →
- Seriously? We have a test today? tree →
- Think seriously before you answer. tree →
- He turned round anew, firmly convinced that he was seriously ill. tree →
note
Adjective: serious. Spelled serious + ly. Opposite: jokingly, lightly. «Seriously?» as a one-word question is informal; avoid it in school writing.
In the corpora
- "In a comfortable condition" in a hospital statement means seriously ill but stable.
- "Going steady" means dating one person seriously (old-fashioned, US).
- Throwing things or hitting out in anger in sport can seriously injure someone.
- Lilies are very poisonous to cats, and even a small amount can make them seriously ill.
- Never throw or drop anything from a balcony, because a falling object can seriously hurt someone below.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «seriously» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.