What is a march and what does marches mean
Here is a clear, step by step explanation of the word march and its plural form marches. You will see how it can be a verb or a noun, and when capitalized, a specific place term.
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Step 1 — Recognize the parts of speech
March can be a verb or a noun. The plural form marches is produced by adding es, and march can also take the third person singular form marches.
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Step 2 — The verb usage
As a verb, march means to walk with regular, rhythmic steps, often in formation or in time with music. Examples include soldiers marching in step or people marching in a demonstration. Example sentence without quotes: The soldiers march to the drumbeat every morning. He marches to work each day.
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Step 3 — The noun usage
As a noun, march can mean a parade or demonstration, such as a charity march. It can also refer to a piece of music with a strong, regular rhythm called a march.
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Step 4 — The plural and the verb form
Marches is the plural noun form when talking about more than one march. It is also the third person singular present form of march as a verb, used with he, she, or it (he marches, she marches).
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Step 5 — A quick note on a specialized sense
Capitalized The Marches refers to a historic border region between England and Wales. Outside that context, use march in its common senses described above.
Examples to illustrate usage
- The army marches at dawn
- We joined a charity march last weekend
- The marching band played a lively march
Summary
March is versatile: a verb for walking in step, and a noun for parades or music. The form marches serves as the plural or as the present tense he/she/it form.