shorten
part of speech
verb (shorten, shortens, shortened, shortening)
meaning for a pupil
1) To shorten something is to make it shorter in length, like shortening trousers or a rope. tree →
2) To shorten something is to make it last less time, like shortening a lesson. tree →
3) To shorten a word or name is to make it smaller, like «Benjamin» shortened to «Ben». tree →
sense in the lessons
In writing lessons, pupils shorten long sentences to make them clearer and learn that «info» is a shortened form of «information». In maths, shortening a length means subtracting from it. In everyday life, days shorten in autumn and a tailor shortens clothes.
examples
- Mum shortened my trousers because they were too long. tree →
- The rain shortened our game by ten minutes. tree →
- Can you shorten this sentence? tree →
- «Elizabeth» is often shortened to «Liz». tree →
- The days shorten as winter comes. tree →
- If you shorten a 50 cm ribbon by 15 cm, it is 35 cm long. tree →
- We shortened the rope so the swing was higher. tree →
- And as they went to lay the foundation-stone, Gobborn Seer said to Jack, "Can't you shorten the way for me?" tree →
note
Regular verb: past «shortened». It is short + -en, meaning «make shorter». In maths, «shorten by» means subtract that amount; «shorten to» gives the new length. Opposite: «lengthen». «Shortening» is also a cooking fat used in baking (a noun).
In the corpora
- Bones cannot move themselves; muscles move them, and a muscle can do only one thing: shorten and pull.
- In parts of Yorkshire and Lancashire "the" is shortened to t' ("Put t'kettle on").
- Taking vitamin C every day does not stop most people catching colds; it might shorten a cold slightly in some studies.
- People live longer where there is clean water, enough food, good doctors and peace; poverty and war shorten lives.
- Is My hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem?
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «shorten» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.