tapping
part of speech
verb form (tap, taps, tapped, tapping); noun (a tapping)
meaning for a pupil
1) Tapping is hitting something lightly and quickly, often again and again, like tapping on a window. tree →
2) Tapping is touching a phone or tablet screen lightly to choose something. tree →
3) Tapping is using a supply of something, like tapping a tree for sap or tapping water. tree →
4) Phone tapping is secretly listening to someone's phone calls. tree →
sense in the lessons
In music lessons, children keep the beat by tapping their feet or hands. In computing, tapping the screen opens apps. In stories, a tapping at the window or door builds suspense. In maths, «tap out» a rhythm to count beats. Phrases: «tapping your feet», «a tapping sound», «tap on the shoulder».
examples
- Someone was tapping on the window. tree →
- She kept tapping her pencil on the desk. tree →
- We were tapping our feet to the music. tree →
- Tapping the icon opens the game. tree →
- The woodpecker was tapping on the tree. tree →
- He was tapping me on the shoulder to get my attention. tree →
- Farmers in Canada collect maple syrup by tapping trees. tree →
- Stop tapping; it's distracting. tree →
- It was a soft cautious tapping on the door of his tree. tree →
note
The -ing form of «tap»: double the p (tap → tapped, tapping). Do not confuse with «taping» (sticking with tape), which has one p and a long a. «Tap» is also a noun: a water tap (UK, Australia, NZ, Ireland) is a «faucet» in the USA.
In the corpora
- Tapping on glass, shouting and flash photos frighten animals, which cannot leave as easily as visitors can.
- Over a hundred years ago a horse called Clever Hans seemed to do sums by tapping his hoof.
- Tapping on aquarium glass makes a loud, frightening noise for fish.
- Tapping a card or phone spends real money from a bank account, and it can run out.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «tapping» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.