Increase your English vocabulary – Dive 9 uses
The word dive has been in the news recently. A person who dives (swims underwater with special equipment) is called a diver.
Some World Cup fans are upset over players who dive (fall on purpose to cause a foul against the other team) during a game.
People are talking about both situations, in the news, and on social media. I wanted to make this blog post teaching you some different ways we use the word dive. Learn some verbs and nouns in this post!
While preparing this post I learned that past tense form of dive is not the same in every country! I have always used dove [sounds like DOHV] as the past tense, but in England, the say dived! I didn’t know!
*Be careful! The past tense of dive is spelled the same way as dove the bird of peace. [sounds like DUV] The pronunciation is different but you will also know the correct meaning by the context of the sentence. 😉
Click dove for the pronunciation.
dove – a bird of the pigeon family. The white dove is often used as a symbol of peace.
Dive [verb]
① to jump into water with your head and arms going in first
🔸”When I was younger I used to dive off the cliffs near my family cottage every summer.” = I used to jump off the cliffs head first.
② to swim underwater wearing breathing equipment, collecting or looking at things
🔸”I learned to dive when I was in high school. There was a scuba school in my town.” = I went to a special school to learn how to swim underwater with special equipment.
③ fall deliberately when somebody touches you so that the referee awards a foul
🔸“When players dive in a soccer game they should get a yellow card.” = When soccer players fall on purpose to try and get a foul against the other team they should get a yellow card.
④ to move or jump quickly in a particular direction, especially to avoid something, to try to catch a ball, etc.
~dive for something
🔸“The goalie dove for the puck and made a great save!” = The goalkeeper jumped quickly to stop the puck.
⑤ of prices – to fall suddenly
📰News headline
🔸“Facebook stock dives 7% after it sold people’s private data.” = The price of Facebook shares suddenly fell after they were accused of misusing people’s information.
Increase your English vocabulary – dive as a noun
Dive [noun]
The first 3 definitions of the verb form can also be used as nouns.
① a jump into deep water with your head first and your arms in front of you
🔸“That was a great dive!”
② an act of going underwater and swimming there with special equipment
🔸”Scuba divers should always check their air tanks before each dive.”
③ a deliberate fall that a player makes when somebody touches them so that the referee awards a foul
🔸“Neymar Jr’s dive has gone viral on Twitter!”
*Grammar point
Single countable nouns can’t be used by themselves. They will often come after an article (a, an or the) or a possessive noun. (his/hers, Mike’s etc.) Plural nouns (more than 1) can be used by themselves.
Please read these other examples:
🔸1 more dive and then we’re going home. = One more jump into the water.
🔸Watson’s dive drew a penalty. = He pretended to fall and this caused a penalty for the other team.
🔸Scott is an experienced diver, he has done 4 dives at more than 60 meters! = Scott has swum underwater 4 times at more than 60 meters deep.
④ dive – a bar, club, etc. that is cheap, and maybe dark or dirty
🔸“My friend took me to a local bar but it was a real dive. I wanted to leave right away.” = the quality of the place wasn’t good. I didn’t want to stay there.
- Y Suffix Words (Learn with 60 examples, Video, Free PDF)Want to make your English sound more natural? Let’s talk about the suffix ‘-y’! It’s a handy way to turn words into adjectives, like ‘sunny’ or ‘funny.’ We’ll show you how, with lots of easy examples. Plus, grab our free PDF for extra practice! Let’s make learning fun!
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