sorry for the double post.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Iryon
Note on grammar:
Quote:
Originally Posted by N7.
What is mean of
|
is incorrect.
More correct would be "What does ... mean" or "What is the meaning of ..."
The word 'mean' can be a verb (to mean), a noun (the mean) or an adjective (mean) which are used very differently and have largely varying meanings.
The word 'meaning' is the correct noun to the verb 'to mean' when referring to what a word means.
(Could any of you native speakers please be so kind and make this a bit more understandable? Because reading my post I just realised that I don't understand what I mean here ...)
|
Mean does have several different definitions, depending on the context.
The word "mean" can refer to the "definition" of something; it can also refer to someone who makes other people feel bad; and again it can refer to a middle number value (count to five: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. The middle number is 3 and is therefore the mean number.) Someone might now argue with me about the difference between the word "mean" and the word "median," but in this case, you get the idea.
In the context of this conversation, the word "mean" refers to the "definition."
You could say "what does 'surged' mean?", "what is the meaning of the word 'surged?'", "what is the definition of the word 'surged?'", or "how do you define 'surged?'"
There's that noun-becomes-a-verb situation again. When you're looking at a word, it may containt a prefix and/or a suffix in addition to the root word. The root word of "definition" is the word "define." the -tion part of the word is called a suffix and changes how the root word is used.
Try "abhor." "Abhorrent" and "Abhorrence" both have the same root word "abhor," but use different suffixes (-ent and -ence) which change the way the root word is used. The meaning of the root word is the same, but the way it is used in a sentence is slightly different.