swap
part of speech
verb (swap, swaps, swapped, swapping); noun (a swap, swaps); also spelt swop (UK)
meaning for a pupil
1) To swap is to give one thing and get another in return. tree →
2) To swap places or seats is for two people to change places. tree →
3) A swap is the act of swapping, or the thing you get. tree →
sense in the lessons
things change hands; each gives and gets, so totals may change or stay the same; in school: swapping stickers, cards or lunch with friends; in maths: swapping the order of numbers in adding or multiplying does not change the answer; phrases: «swap places», «swap over», «a fair swap»
examples
- Tom swaps 3 stickers for 2 of Ben's. tree →
- They swap seats. tree →
- She swapped 4 marbles for 1 big one. tree →
- How many stickers does Tom have after the swap? tree →
- Can I swap my apple for your banana? tree →
- We swapped books after we finished reading. tree →
- Swap the numbers: 4 + 7 is the same as 7 + 4. tree →
- That was a fair swap. tree →
- The two players swapped shirts after the match. tree →
note
Each side: minus what is given, plus what is got. Trap: an equal swap leaves the counts the same. Past: swapped (double p). Swapping numbers works for + and ×, not for − and ÷.
In the corpora
- Grown-ups love swapping it over the fence, and a lot of it is harmless fun.
- When someone gives a reason, like being ill, swapping it for a meaner guess is cruel.
- Teachers often give a solo to the child most ready for that piece, and many swap solos around during the year.
- A missing piece rarely ruins a model: builders swap in another brick, and single pieces can be ordered.
- Zoos swap animals between countries through planned breeding programmes, called EEPs in Europe and SSPs in North America.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «swap» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.