worker
part of speech
noun (worker, workers)
meaning for a pupil
1) A worker is a person who does a job, often to make or build something. tree →
2) A worker is someone who works in a certain way: «a hard worker», «a fast worker». tree →
3) Worker bees and worker ants are those that do the jobs of the hive or nest. tree →
sense in the lessons
In school maths: people doing work at a rate; more workers finish faster (inverse relation); wages per worker. In science: worker bees collect nectar; ant colonies. In everyday life: farm workers, health workers, factory workers. Phrases: «a hard worker», «aid worker», «office worker», «worker bee».
examples
- 4 workers build a wall in 6 days. tree →
- Each worker earns 50 dollars a day. tree →
- 3 workers paint 12 rooms. tree →
- How many workers are needed? tree →
- Worker bees collect nectar from flowers. tree →
- She is a hard worker in class. tree →
- Road workers fixed the hole in the street. tree →
- Health workers helped many people get better. tree →
- No one will ever make a worker out of me.” tree →
note
Countable: «a worker». Maths: work = workers × rate × time. Trap: more workers means less time, not more (an inverse relation): if 4 workers need 6 days, 8 workers need 3 days.
In the corpora
- Shops, hospitals, buses and factories need people at all hours, so their workers follow a rota that can change every week.
- Night shifts mean working through the night and sleeping in the day; nurses, drivers, bakers and warehouse workers often do them.
- There are also ways workers stand up for themselves: unions, strikes, picket lines and tribunals.
- One worker alone has little power, but many together are much harder to ignore.
- A picket line is striking workers standing outside their workplace with signs, peacefully asking others not to go in.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «worker» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.