March 31, 2016

row

A row is an orderly arrangement of people or things:

• Vegetables are planted in a row.

• An audience member sits in a row at a movie theater. The seats are in rows. Which row is he sitting in?

• These soldiers are standing in a row.

• There’s a row of houses on this street.

The word "row" is also used as a verb to describe the movement of a boat through human labor.

• They’re rowing a boat down the river.

• Have you ever rowed a boat?
• You use paddles or oars to row a boat.

There’s one more use for the word "row." If a person achieves some sort of sequential success, one after another, the prepositional phrase "in a row" might be used.

• He made five baskets, one after another. He made five in a row.
• It rained four days in a row last week: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
• Yolanda has won that award three years in a row: 2014, 2015, and now 2016.

Note: In British English, a row is a fight, but it’s rarely used that way in American English.

• Two men got into a row outside of the pub.
• A row broke out among the fans at the football match.

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