wonder
part of speech
verb (wonder, wonders, wondered, wondering); noun (wonder, a wonder, wonders)
meaning for a pupil
1) To wonder is to think about something and want to know the answer. tree →
2) Wonder is a feeling of surprise and amazement at something beautiful or strange. tree →
3) A wonder is something amazing, like the wonders of the world. tree →
4) «No wonder» means it is not surprising. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science lessons pupils are encouraged to wonder: asking «I wonder why…» starts an investigation. In history the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World are famous buildings. In stories characters stare in wonder. Polite requests use «I wonder if you could…». Phrases: I wonder, wonder about, no wonder, in wonder, the wonders of, wonder if.
examples
- I wonder why the sky is blue. tree →
- She wondered where her cat had gone. tree →
- The children looked at the stars in wonder. tree →
- The pyramids are one of the wonders of the world. tree →
- You didn't sleep — no wonder you are tired! tree →
- I wonder if you could help me. tree →
- He wondered about the strange noise. tree →
- The Grand Canyon is a natural wonder. tree →
note
Verb is regular (wondered). Do not confuse «wonder» (to think about) with «wander» (to walk without a plan) — they look and sound alike. After «I wonder» use the normal statement order: «I wonder where he is», not «where is he». «Wonderful» means very good.
In the corpora
- Alice wonders, "Who in the world am I?
- Alice sits with her face in her hands, wondering if anything will ever happen in a natural way again.
- I wonder what new fad he has taken up now?» (a fad = a short-lived craze).
- Crying on the platform, he wonders about hiding under a seat, when a kind engine-driver says «Hullo, mother!
- Washed and in the Rat's clothes, he admires himself and wonders how anybody could ever have taken him for a washerwoman.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «wonder» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.