sir

«sir» in Mova's school dictionary: A polite way to speak to a man whose name you do not… — 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

noun (sir, sirs); also a title (Sir)

meaning for a pupil

1) A polite way to speak to a man whose name you do not know, or to a man in charge: "Can I help you, sir?" tree →

2) In the UK and Ireland, what pupils call a male teacher. tree →

3) "Sir" with a capital S is a title for a knight in the UK: "Sir Isaac Newton". tree →

sense in the lessons

In school in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, children may call a male teacher "Sir" and a female teacher "Miss". In shops and restaurants, staff say "sir" to be polite. In history, knights are called "Sir". Phrases: yes sir, no sir, Dear Sir.

examples

• Excuse me, sir, you dropped your glove. tree →
• Please, sir, may I go to the toilet? tree →
• Sir Isaac Newton was a famous scientist. tree →
• "Yes, sir!" said the soldier. tree →
• The waiter asked, "Would you like water, sir?" tree →
• Our class calls Mr Brown "Sir". tree →
• Letters used to begin "Dear Sir". tree →
• "No, sir, by design," returned Aladdin. tree →

note

For women the matching words are "madam" or "ma'am", and "Miss" for a teacher. As a title it is used with the first name: "Sir Isaac", never "Sir Newton". In the USA, children may say "sir" to show respect, especially in the South.

In the corpora

• The Rat tells him «You needn't ‘sir’ me quite so much».
• You call teachers Mr, Mrs, Ms or Miss with their surname, or Sir and Miss in many British schools.
• Teachers are called Mr, Mrs, Ms or Miss with their surname, or Sir and Miss in many British schools.
• Ben said later he wished he'd just said «Ask Jamie, sir.»
• A pupil once told Mr Ellis, "Sir, you're wrong, tomatoes are vegetables!" He wasn't wrong.

Trees and pragmatics

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