tale

«tale» in Mova's school dictionary: a story, often a made-up one with adventures — 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 (tale, tales)

meaning for a pupil

1) A tale is a story, often a made-up one with adventures. A fairy tale is a story with magic in it. tree →

2) A tall tale is a story that is hard to believe. tree →

3) To tell tales is to tell someone in charge about another person's small mistakes. tree →

sense in the lessons

In maths: a story that is read or told; tales or their pages may be counted; pages per tale make a rate. In English: folk tales, fairy tales and fables are kinds of stories; they often begin «Once upon a time». Phrases: fairy tale, folk tale, tall tale, tell tales, a tale of.

examples

• The book has 12 tales. tree →
• Each tale is 8 pages long. tree →
• Grandma told us 3 tales tonight. tree →
• She read 2 fairy tales a day for a week. tree →
• Snow White is a famous fairy tale. tree →
• He told a tall tale about a fish as big as a boat. tree →
• The old sailor told tales of the sea. tree →
• Do not tell tales on your friends for small things. tree →
• A false tale often betrays itself. tree →

note

Homophone: «tail» (an animal's tail) sounds the same. A «telltale» is a person who tells tales. Just the thing counted; pages per tale make a rate. No clue by itself.

In the corpora

• Stories grow because people fill gaps with guesses, round numbers up, and add a twist that makes the tale better to tell.
• They are funny made-up tales, and every reason they give is wrong.
• In printed copies of the book the tale winds down the page in the shape of a tail, getting smaller.
• The Hatter finishes his tale: the Queen screamed «He's murdering the time!
• What's the trouble?» Toad tells him a tale of lost money and hungry children at home.

Trees and pragmatics

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