work

«work» in Mova's school dictionary: to do a job, often to earn money — 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

verb (work, works, worked, working); noun (work; works)

meaning for a pupil

1) To work means to do a job, often to earn money. tree →

2) To work means to try hard to do or learn something: «work on your spelling». tree →

3) Work is the place where you have a job: «Dad is at work». tree →

4) A machine works when it does its job and is not broken. tree →

5) A plan works when it is a success. tree →

6) A work is something made, like a work of art. tree →

sense in the lessons

In school maths: hours worked, pay per hour, work done per day; «show your work» (write your steps). In everyday life: grown-ups go to work, homework, schoolwork, group work, teamwork. In science: work is done when a force moves something. Phrases: «at work», «work out» (solve, or exercise), «work hard», «homework», «work together», «out of work».

examples

• She works 8 hours a day. tree →
• He earns 12 dollars for each hour of work. tree →
• How much does he earn for 5 days of work? tree →
• They worked for 3 hours. tree →
• Mum goes to work by train. tree →
• Can you work out the answer in your head? tree →
• The TV doesn't work anymore. tree →
• Good teamwork helped us finish the model. tree →
• Show your work so the teacher can follow your steps. tree →
• We must get to work swiftly.” tree →

note

As a noun «work» is uncountable: «a lot of work», not «a work» (but «a work of art»). «Homework» has no plural. Maths: pay = hours × rate; hours = pay ÷ rate. Trap: «show your work» means write the steps, no number; «work out» means solve.

In the corpora

• When a parent seems frazzled after work, it is usually the workload, not anything the child did.
• Night shifts mean working through the night and sleeping in the day; nurses, drivers, bakers and warehouse workers often do them.
• Overtime is working extra hours beyond the normal ones; sometimes it is paid at a higher rate, sometimes not paid at all.
• Some people go to work ill because they can't afford to lose the pay, which spreads germs to everyone else.
• At the other end of working life comes retirement, when people stop paid work for good.

Trees and pragmatics

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