volunteer

«volunteer» in Mova's school dictionary: someone who does a job without being paid, because they… — 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 (a volunteer, volunteers); verb (volunteer, volunteers, volunteered, volunteering)

meaning for a pupil

1) A volunteer is someone who does a job without being paid, because they want to help. tree →

2) A volunteer is someone who offers to do something nobody forced them to do. tree →

3) To volunteer is to offer to do something, or to work without pay. tree →

4) To volunteer information is to tell it without being asked. tree →

sense in the lessons

In everyday life volunteers help at charity shops, food banks, beach clean-ups and sports clubs. In class, a teacher asks «Any volunteers?» and you put your hand up. Phrases: volunteer for, volunteer to, any volunteers, volunteer work, charity volunteer.

examples

• Can I have a volunteer to hand out the books? tree →
• My mum volunteers at the food bank every Saturday. tree →
• She volunteered to read her poem aloud. tree →
• Twenty volunteers picked up litter on the beach. tree →
• Volunteers at the animal shelter walk the dogs. tree →
• Each of 12 volunteers worked 3 hours, so they gave 36 hours in all. tree →
• He volunteered the answer before anyone asked. tree →
• The king then promised a large reward to the soldier who would volunteer for the post. tree →

note

Both a noun and a regular verb. The adjective is «voluntary» (done by choice or unpaid). Volunteers do not get paid, so in a maths problem their work costs nothing.

In the corpora

• When they want to help, they give money to charities, get sponsored for a challenge or volunteer their time.
• Volunteering means working without pay to help a good cause, like Gran's shift at the charity shop.
• Giving is not only money; a volunteer helps without being paid, and time, help and kindness count too.
• Canvassing means volunteers going door to door to talk to voters and hear what they care about.
• Volunteering means giving time freely, for example visiting lonely people or cleaning up the area.

Trees and pragmatics

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