English vocabulary – Dive
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. 😉
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.
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.
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