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# begin

«begin» in Mova's school dictionary: **to start doing something** — 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 (begin, begins, began, begun, beginning)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To begin is to start doing something. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/begin/#m1)

2) To begin is to start happening or existing: «The film begins at 7». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/begin/#m2)

3) To begin with means first, or at the start. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/begin/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

the start of an activity, or the starting amount; also a start time; phrases «begin with», «to begin with», «beginning», «beginner», «once upon a time» (a story begins)

### examples

- The movie begins at 7:15. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/begin/#x1)
- He began with 20 marbles. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/begin/#x2)
- She begins reading on page 12. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/begin/#x3)
- School begins in 3 days. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/begin/#x4)
- Let's begin our lesson. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/begin/#x5)
- It began to rain. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/begin/#x6)
- The word «cat» begins with c. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/begin/#x7)
- To begin with, read the question carefully. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/begin/#x8)
- He is a beginner at chess. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/begin/#x9)
- The story begins in a dark forest. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/begin/#x10)
- Then the Sun began to shine. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/begin/#x11)

### note

Gives a start: a starting amount or a start time. Trap: to find how long, take the start time from the end time. Past forms: «began», «have begun» — not «begun» alone as past.

### In the corpora

- [Released pets can die or become pests, and many pests around the world began as someone's unwanted pet.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/330-unusual-pets-stick-insects-giant-snails-ant-farms-and-hermit-crabs/8/)
- [In Japan a young female macaque began washing sandy sweet potatoes in water, and the habit spread through her troop by copying.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/387-clever-primates-tool-using-chimps-kanzi-the-bonobo-and-ayumu-s-memory/13/)
- [Twice in this part a paragraph begins "Down, down, down." to show how long the fall goes on.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/1-alice-ch1-part1-down-the-rabbit-hole/21/)
- [Alice thinks: «I don't see how he can ever finish, if he doesn't begin.»](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/18-alice-the-mock-turtles-story-2/16/)
- [The Hatter mumbles about «the twinkling of the tea»; the King says «Of course twinkling begins with a T!](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/22-alice-who-stole-the-tarts-2/19/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «begin» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/begin/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.