serve

«serve» in Mova's school dictionary: to give food or drink to people — 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

verb, noun (serve, serves, served, serving)

meaning for a pupil

1) To serve is to give food or drink to people. tree →

2) A dish that serves 4 is enough food for 4 people. tree →

3) To serve is to work for or help others, like a shop assistant serves customers. tree →

4) In tennis or volleyball, to serve is to hit the ball to start play; a serve is that hit. tree →

5) To serve in the army or on a team is to work in it. tree →

6) «It serves you right» means you deserved the bad thing. tree →

sense in the lessons

Maths: sharing food — a dish serves so many people; things served counted; «serves n» is a rate per item: items needed = people ÷ n (round up). Everyday: serving dinner, a serving spoon, being served in a shop. Sport: serve in tennis, badminton and volleyball. Phrases: serve up, first come first served.

examples

• One pizza serves 4 people. tree →
• The cafe served 120 meals today. tree →
• How many pizzas does she need to serve 20 people? tree →
• Each cook serves 15 plates an hour. tree →
• The waiter served our drinks first. tree →
• Are you being served? asked the shop assistant. tree →
• She served the ball hard over the net. tree →
• Grandma served in the navy when she was young. tree →
• Serve the soup while it is hot. tree →
• For dinner the Fox served soup. tree →

note

Regular verb: served, serving. A serving is one portion. «Serves n» is a rate per item: items needed = people ÷ n. Trap: a part item cannot be bought, so round up (21 people, pizzas serve 4: 6 pizzas, not 5.25). «Serve» someone (no «to»): serve the customers.

In the corpora

• Now I am ashamed, and it serves me right.»
• "Made the ultimate sacrifice" means died in war while serving one's country.
• "Doing time" means serving a prison sentence.
• You wait until everyone is seated and served before eating, unless the host says to start.
• You wait until everyone is seated and served before eating, unless the host says to start.

Trees and pragmatics

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