step
part of speech
noun, verb (step, steps, stepped, stepping)
meaning for a pupil
1) A step is one movement of your foot when you walk. tree →
2) Steps are the flat parts of stairs that you walk up. tree →
3) A step is one part of a process: the first step of a recipe. tree →
4) To step is to move by lifting your foot and putting it down. tree →
5) «Step by step» means slowly, one part after another. tree →
sense in the lessons
Maths: a thing counted (steps walked, steps on a staircase); «steps a day» is a rate; in problem solving «step» means one part of the working. Everyday: watch your step, step on it (hurry), a stepladder. Family: stepmother, stepfather, stepbrother (family by a new marriage).
examples
- Mia walks 2000 steps a day. tree →
- The tower has 120 steps. tree →
- He climbed 15 steps and then 20 more. tree →
- Each step is 2 feet long. tree →
- Solve the problem step by step. tree →
- Watch your step, the floor is wet. tree →
- The baby took her first steps today. tree →
- Step aside to let the people pass. tree →
- He sat lifeless on the steps. tree →
note
Doubles the p: stepped, stepping. Steps are usually the thing counted; «steps a day» is a rate. In problem solving «step» can mean one part of the working, not a number. Trap: «step» (foot) is not «steep» (sloping sharply).
In the corpora
- Buying, selling or renting a home has many steps, and things can take months or fall through.
- Many children call a step-parent by their first name, and it is fine to ask what to call them.
- The children of a parent's partner can become your step-siblings: brothers or sisters through marriage, not by birth.
- Knowing how money, work and choices really work now makes the big steps much less scary later.
- A woman who is never seen outside may use a wheelchair on a path with steps.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «step» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.