soon
part of speech
adverb (soon, sooner, soonest)
meaning for a pupil
1) Soon means in a short time from now or from then. tree →
2) Soon can mean early or quickly: «Don't speak too soon». tree →
3) «Sooner» can mean rather: «I would sooner walk than take the bus». tree →
sense in the lessons
In everyday life «soon» tells about time that is close: «See you soon», «Get well soon». In stories it moves the plot ahead: «Soon it began to rain». Phrases: «as soon as» (right at the moment when), «as soon as possible», «sooner or later» (some time, for sure), «the sooner the better», «no sooner … than».
examples
- Dinner will be ready soon. tree →
- Get well soon! tree →
- Soon the snow began to melt. tree →
- Call me as soon as you get home. tree →
- Sooner or later you will learn to ride a bike. tree →
- It is too soon to open the presents. tree →
- We will soon be at the beach. tree →
- The sooner we start, the sooner we finish. tree →
- It will soon become like ice. tree →
note
«Soon» is vague: it does not say exactly how long. «As soon as» joins two events: «As soon as the bell rang, we ran out» means the running came right after the ring. Do not confuse «soon» with «son» or «sun». Comparison: sooner, soonest.
In the corpora
- Non-urgent appointments can be weeks away because doctors have more patients than time; urgent problems are seen sooner.
- Having life insurance is a sensible plan made by many parents; it does not mean anyone expects to die soon.
- A surprise is a happy secret that will be shared soon, and everyone is glad when it comes out.
- Switching off or walking away as soon as you see an 18 is always allowed, even at someone else's house.
- Baby hares are born furry with open eyes and can hop soon after birth, while baby rabbits are born bare and blind underground.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «soon» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.