RUN. An easy word with so many meanings. And a nightmare for anyone who desperately is trying to learn the English language. Think about it. How many different meanings can you list for this little three- letter word?
Of course there is the obvious.. “Watch Dick and Jane run.” Or given the season, The ____ (fill in your favorite baseball team name) has scored another homerun.
I have taught American Sign Language (ASL) to hearing students for a zillion years. And with my advanced classes I always try to show them how RUN can be signed a multitude of ways. When we are done with this exercise we are all practically sweating. Keep in mind that these are mostly English- speaking students learning ASL. Imagine how hard this is for my students who do not have English as their first language? They often struggle learning the numerous meanings of one little ‘ol word, let alone all the other words in the English language that have multiple meanings.
Yet, for some reason, this particular word seems to really be a stand out for me. So, here are all the uses of the word RUN that my students and I have put on a list. Any others? Feel free to add below in the comment section.
Runaway
Run in a woman’s pantyhose
Running water
Running off with ones’ mouth
Runny nose
Run for ones’ life
Running brook, stream, etc.
A run for a political office
Running a temperature/ fever
Run the risk of….
Feeling “run – down”
Run- off
Running out of steam
Being give the – Runaround
Now your turn- add any uses of the word “RUN” below or add a comment about another word that just seems to drive you a bit crazy……. Well, I’m running out of time for this blog… Thanks for reading!
Newsworthy-
Just want to point out that my American Idol pick- James Durbin is still in the competition. Just say’in. He may just “run away with” the competition, afterall.
This is funny – and also serious! English is not a super-easy language, so there can be a lot of funny errors as we try to get the meaning right in our own language, in a new language – and especially in ASL! But, it’s also a serious topic because it is precisely this worry about all those different meanings for a simple word like “run” that makes the difference between whether an English language learner can really succeed in school or not. You have to know the various meanings of “run” to use it properly in an essay or read it in a textbook. So, let’s take “run” and run with it. No – wait – I didn’t mean you should put on your sneakers! 🙂
And it becomes even more complicated when you add a disability like Autism, because they take things very literally. (my daughter would run and get her sneakers for sure)