specific

«specific» in Mova's school dictionary: exact, particular and clear, about one certain thing and… — 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

adjective (specific; specifically — adverb); noun (specifics — exact details)

meaning for a pupil

1) Specific means exact, particular and clear, about one certain thing and not things in general: a specific time, a specific example. tree →

2) Specific to something means belonging only to that thing or place: plants specific to the rainforest. tree →

sense in the lessons

In school, teachers ask pupils to be specific in writing and answers — name the exact thing, number or reason instead of a vague one («the dog» not «it»; «at 3 o'clock» not «later»). In science, «specific» describes a precise feature of one kind of thing. In everyday safety, when calling for help, give specific information: the exact address and what happened. Phrases: be specific, a specific example, specific to, nothing specific.

examples

• Can you give me a specific example? tree →
• Please be specific — which book do you mean? tree →
• We meet at a specific time, 9 o'clock sharp. tree →
• Kangaroos are specific to Australia and New Guinea. tree →
• When you call 911, say the specific address. tree →
• I'm not looking for anything specific, just browsing. tree →
• The recipe asks for a specific kind of flour. tree →
• The specific actions of the two waters are described with great precision in this story. tree →

note

Adjective. Adverb: specifically. Opposite: general or vague. Spelling: spe-ci-fic. In maths, «specific» numbers make an answer clearer: «about 50» is less specific than «48».

In the corpora

• Asking for a joke about something very specific, like your own hamster, pushes a bot away from the oldest jokes.
• Useful feedback is kind, specific and helpful: it names something that works and one clear thing to improve.
• Parents often praise everything because they love you, even when the praise is not specific.
• Peer feedback means a classmate reads your work and suggests improvements; useful feedback is kind, specific and helpful.
• A good compliment is specific and true.

Trees and pragmatics

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