song
part of speech
noun (a song, songs)
meaning for a pupil
1) A song is a short piece of music with words that you sing. tree →
2) Song is the act or art of singing («burst into song»). tree →
3) A bird's song is the musical sounds it makes. tree →
sense in the lessons
In music lessons pupils learn songs, verses and choruses, rhythm and rhyme; nursery rhymes and hymns are kinds of song. In science, birdsong helps birds attract mates and defend their area. Phrases: «sing a song», «birdsong», «burst into song», «for a song» (very cheaply), «song and dance» (a big fuss).
examples
- We sang a song in assembly. tree →
- What is your favourite song? tree →
- The song has three verses and a chorus. tree →
- I heard the song of a blackbird this morning. tree →
- The whole family burst into song in the car. tree →
- She wrote a song about her dog. tree →
- Dad bought the old bike for a song. tree →
- Don't make a song and dance about it. tree →
- What song could the Ranunculus sing? tree →
note
Usually countable («a song»); uncountable in «birdsong» and «in song». Verb: «sing, sang, sung». «For a song» means very cheaply, not with music.
In the corpora
- One mimed song on a TV show, where many performers mime, does not prove a singer cannot sing.
- You do not have to feel sad about a famous person you never knew; the people laying flowers knew their songs or films.
- A bad picture fades faster if you fill your head with something else, like a favourite place, a game or a song.
- Music apps learn from your listening habits and build playlists of songs like the ones you already play.
- Some apps identify birds from their songs by matching sounds to recordings they learned from; they can guess the wrong bird.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «song» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.