July 23, 2011 - Word of the Day: mean

Many thanks to the Blue Level Chat Room for word of the day: "mean." This word can be used as a verb or as an adjective, but I'd like to focus on the use of it as a verb because it's helpful when learning English. Look at the question below:

What does "endeavor" mean?

When you want to know the idea that a word represents, this is the way to ask the question. I often hear my students say something like, "What means this word?" and that's not corrrect. When making the question, put the word you want to know between the helping verb "does" and the main verb, "mean." Here are some more examples of how you can use "mean" in this way:

• What does "awful" mean?
• Do you know what this word means?
• I don't know what this means.
• Do you understand what this sentence means?
• What did she really mean when she said that she was disappointed?

There are other slightly different meanings for the word mean:

• What does this mean for our company? (What will be a possible result?)
• A drop in profits means that the company will have to lay off more workers. (Fewer profits will result in layoffs.)
• She means well. (It's her intention to do something good, but she might not achieve that result.)

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