stranger

«stranger» in Mova's school dictionary: A person you do not know — 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 (a stranger, strangers); also the comparative of strange (strange, stranger, strangest)

meaning for a pupil

1) A person you do not know. tree →

2) A person who is new to a place: «I'm a stranger here». tree →

3) Comparative of «strange»: more unusual: «The story got stranger and stranger». tree →

sense in the lessons

In safety lessons: most strangers are kind, but you don't go anywhere with a stranger, take things from them, or tell them personal information without a trusted adult saying it is okay; if a stranger makes you feel uncomfortable, say no, get away and tell an adult. If you are lost, ask a «safe stranger» for help: a police officer, a shop worker at the till, or a parent with children. Online: people you chat with may be strangers pretending. Phrases: stranger danger, a complete stranger, no stranger to, safe stranger, stranger than.

examples

• Don't get into a car with a stranger. tree →
• A stranger asked me for directions, so I fetched my mum. tree →
• If you're lost, ask a shop worker for help. tree →
• She was a complete stranger to me. tree →
• Never tell a stranger online where you live. tree →
• Our new neighbours were strangers, but now they are friends. tree →
• The noises got stranger and stranger. tree →
• He's no stranger to hard work. tree →
• "Howdy, Daddy Ben?" the stranger exclaimed. tree →

note

Countable: strangers. Two words that look the same: a stranger (a person) and stranger (more strange). «Stranger danger» is a simple slogan, but the real rule is about tricky behaviour: anyone asking you to keep secrets or go somewhere without telling your parents.

In the corpora

• Lots of young adults find phone calls to strangers scary; planning what to say first helps, and it gets easier with practice.
• Bots can invent phone numbers and addresses that belong to nobody, or to a stranger.
• That's fine: treat everyone online you don't know in real life as a stranger.
• It is often hard to tell a person from a bot online; treat everyone you don't know as a stranger.
• Giving to known charities, with a grown-up, is safer than giving to a viral plea from a stranger.

Trees and pragmatics

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