sure

«sure» in Mova's school dictionary: true and have no doubt — 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 (sure, surer, surest); adverb (sure — yes, of course)

meaning for a pupil

1) If you are sure, you know something is true and have no doubt. tree →

2) «Make sure» means check or take care that something happens. tree →

3) «Sure» in speech means yes, of course. tree →

4) A sure thing is something certain to happen. tree →

5) Sure-footed means steady on your feet, not likely to slip or fall. tree →

sense in the lessons

In school maths: a word of the story; in chance problems «sure» or «certain» means it will always happen; «to be sure of getting two of the same colour» means think of the worst case. In everyday life: «Are you sure?», «Make sure you lock the door», «Sure, you can borrow it». Phrases: «make sure», «for sure», «be sure to», «I'm not sure».

examples

• Is it sure that she picks a red ball? tree →
• He wants to be sure he has enough money. tree →
• Make sure you count both ends. tree →
• How many must you take to be sure of getting two of the same colour? tree →
• Are you sure you turned off the oven? tree →
• «Can I sit here?» «Sure!» tree →
• I'm not sure what the answer is. tree →
• Make sure you wear sunscreen at the beach. tree →
• They have therefore become very sure-footed. tree →

note

«Sure of» something, «sure that» something is true, «sure to» do something. «Surely» is used in questions when you expect «yes». Maths: carries no number. In «to be sure of» problems think of the worst case. Trap: «sure» there means always, not just likely.

In the corpora

• Later he can't stop thinking about it, and he isn't sure if he's in trouble.
• When a bot is asked "are you sure?", it sometimes gives up a correct answer.
• A good answer comes with reasons, so ask "why?" rather than only "are you sure?".
• Schools are making rules about AI, like rules about calculators: read them, and when you are not sure, ask.
• The lawyers trusted the chatbot because it sounded so sure, and sounding sure is not proof.

Trees and pragmatics

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