times
part of speech
noun (in «N times»; time, times); preposition (in «5 times 6»); verb (time, times, timed — to measure how long)
meaning for a pupil
1) Times tells how many copies of a number are put together: «5 times 6» means 5 × 6. tree →
2) Times tells how often something happens: «I rang 4 times». tree →
3) Times can mean periods in history or life: «in old times», «hard times». tree →
4) To time something is to measure how long it takes: «She times the race». tree →
5) (casual) «Times» can mean a good or bad experience: «good times!»; «loads of times» means very often. tree →
6) (rude) «How many times do I have to tell you?» shows anger, not a real question. tree →
7) (formal) Exams say «multiplied by», «the product of», «-fold» («threefold»), «on N occasions» and «a multiple of». tree →
sense in the lessons
«three times as many»: three copies of another count; the sign × is read «times»; times tables list products; phrases: «times as many as», «times tables», «many times», «at times» (sometimes), «three times a day», «behind the times» (old-fashioned); in casual talk «good times», «loads of times», «a million times» (very often, not really a million); in rough talk «how many times do I gotta tell ya?»; in the exam voice «multiplied by», «the product of», «on four occasions», «increase threefold»
examples
- Ben has 3 times as many cards as Zoe. tree →
- Mia rang the bell 4 times. tree →
- What is 5 times 6? tree →
- I know my 9 times table. tree →
- Take the medicine three times a day. tree →
- In old times, people wrote with feathers. tree →
- At times the wind was very strong. tree →
- I've told you a million times, it's 7 times 8 is 56. tree →
- How many times do I gotta say it? 12, not 13! tree →
- Good times, mate, see ya next week. tree →
- Compute the product of 7 and 8. tree →
- The bell was sounded on four occasions; state the number of rings. tree →
- Those times were not like ours. tree →
note
«K times as many as N» is N × K. Trap: «3 times more» is read as × 3 here, and «N times» alone may just count events. «once» = 1 time, «twice» = 2 times, «thrice» = 3 times. «a million times» in talk means very often, not 1,000,000. «the product of» and «multiplied by» in an exam mean times.
In the corpora
- Hard times are also when scammers strike, with messages that look urgent and real.
- Babies wear nappies, which are changed six to ten times a day, and nappy cream stops sore skin.
- Repeat a guess enough times and it sticks to a person like a label.
- One event is often shown many times on different channels and phones; ten showings of a bombed building are still one building.
- AI is good at the usual cases it has seen many times and often weak at unusual or brand-new ones.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «times» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.