ribbon

Everyday

1. A ribbon is a long, narrow strip of cloth used for tying, decorating or wrapping. tree →
2. A ribbon can be a prize or badge: a blue ribbon for first place. tree →
3. A ribbon is any long narrow strip: a ribbon of road. tree →
4. «Cut to ribbons» means cut into many pieces. tree →

In the lessons

In maths: a length measured in inches, feet or meters; cut into equal pieces or used for bows; ribbon left. In everyday life: wrapping presents, hair ribbons, ribbon-cutting at an opening. In school fairs and shows: first-prize blue ribbons (USA); rosettes (UK). In stories: «a ribbon of river wound through the valley».

Examples

• She has a ribbon 3 meters long. tree →
• Each bow needs 25 cm of ribbon. tree →
• He cut the ribbon into 6 equal pieces. tree →
• How much ribbon is left? tree →
• She tied her hair with a red ribbon. tree →
• We wrapped the present and tied it with ribbon. tree →
• His pumpkin won a blue ribbon at the fair. tree →
• The mayor cut the ribbon to open the new library. tree →
• The road was a thin ribbon across the desert. tree →
• It had pink ribbons to tie up its sleeves, so the Queen saw at once it was a girl. tree →

Note

Cutting a ribbon into equal pieces is division; pieces used are subtracted from the length. Trap: change meters to centimeters before mixing them (1 m = 100 cm). Bows needed × length per bow = ribbon used.