speed

«speed» in Mova's school dictionary: how fast something moves: how far it goes in some time — 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, verb (speed, speeds, sped, speeding)

meaning for a pupil

1) Speed is how fast something moves: how far it goes in some time. tree →

2) Speed means quickness: with great speed. tree →

3) To speed is to move fast. tree →

4) To be speeding is to drive faster than the law allows. tree →

5) To speed up is to go faster; to slow down is the opposite. tree →

6) "God speed you" is an old way of wishing someone good luck and a safe journey. tree →

sense in the lessons

Maths and science: a rate of distance per time (km per hour, miles per hour, meters per second); distance = speed × time. Safety: speed limits on roads, slow down near schools. Everyday: top speed, at full speed, speed bump, high-speed train.

examples

• The car's speed is 60 km per hour. tree →
• At this speed, how far will it go in 3 hours? tree →
• His speed was 5 meters a second. tree →
• Find the speed if he went 120 miles in 2 hours. tree →
• The speed limit near the school is 25. tree →
• A cheetah can run at great speed. tree →
• The train sped through the tunnel. tree →
• Slow down, there is a speed bump ahead. tree →
• "Now then, Soldier! drive off, and God speed you!" tree →

note

Past sped (or speeded). Distance = speed × time; speed = distance ÷ time; time = distance ÷ speed. Trap: match units (minutes vs hours: 30 minutes is half an hour). Average speed = total distance ÷ total time, not the average of two speeds.

In the corpora

• A speed camera photographs cars going over the limit, and the driver must pay a fine and may get points on their licence.
• Speed limits exist because faster cars cause worse accidents, especially near schools and homes.
• Real hedgehogs walk slowly and can trot, but cannot race; Sonic was named for speed, not for biology.
• Slow sounding-out is a normal early stage; re-reading the same easy book builds speed until words are known at a glance.
• Electric cars and bikes can be very quiet at low speeds, so you must look as well as listen.

Trees and pragmatics

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