Question

Now, consult a dictionary and find out the meaning of ‘big’ in the following sentences.
I am a big fan of Lata Mangeshkar. ______

Answer 1

Hint: The sentence should be read thoroughly and carefully. Find out what kind of word it is, and what it could mean within the context of the given sentence.

Complete answer: The given sentence is a simple declarative sentence, which means that it is the simplest construction in grammar. It is not a complicated sentence. The most simple and base level construction in English is ‘subject + verb + object’. However, it becomes a little more complicated when other parts of speech such as adverbs and adjectives come into play. We can add words which describe other words such as adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions. Adjectives are supposed to be placed before a noun and adverbs are supposed to be placed before an adjective or a verb.

An adjective is a word or phrase naming an attribute, added to or grammatically related to
a noun to modify or describe it. Its semantic role is to change the information given by the
noun. In short, it lends description to the noun. They are of various types such as
demonstrative, possessive, qualitative, quantitative, etc. In the given sentence, the adjective ‘big’ is used to describe the noun ‘fan’. This adjective is used in this way to demonstrate the degree of respect and love that the person has for Lata Mangeshkar. This means that the word ‘big’ will not be taken in the literal sense. The meaning of the word ‘big’ will not be ‘of considerable size’.

However, the word ‘big’ also has another more figurative meaning. The word ‘big’ also means ‘of considerable extent’. This means that the person is a very dedicated fan of the singer Lata Mangeshkar. So, the dictionary definition of this word, following the sentence, will be ‘of considerable extent’.

Note: The sentence tells us about a simple fact. This simple fact is conveyed through an adjective. Make sure to understand the meaning of the sentence first.