Meaning & use
inner city school
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Meanings
nouncountable
A school in a poor, crowded part of a large city, often with few resources and many students from low-income families.
Grammar: Countable: say 'an inner city school' or 'inner city schools' for the group in general.
Patterns
- an inner city school
- teach at an inner city school
- inner city schools in something
She spent ten years teaching at an inner city school before moving to the suburbs.
The report said inner city schools need more money for books and computers.
Many inner city schools struggle to hire and keep experienced teachers.
nounbefore a noun
Used before another noun to describe things connected with such schools, such as their students or their problems.
Grammar: Attributive use: it comes directly before a noun, as in 'inner city students', and is not plural in this position.
Patterns
- inner city students
- inner city education
- inner city problems
Inner city students often travel long distances to get to class.
The charity runs after-school programs for inner city children.
Debate about inner city education has become a national issue.
Word forms
| plural | inner city schools |
|---|
Common combinations
- teach at an inner city school
- He chose to teach at an inner city school rather than a private academy.
- inner city schools
- Inner city schools in the region receive extra funding.
- inner city students
- Inner city students were offered free tutoring on Saturdays.
- struggling inner city school
- The struggling inner city school was placed under new leadership.
- inner city neighborhood
- She grew up in an inner city neighborhood and now trains teachers.
Synonyms and how they differ
- urban school
- A neutral term for any school in a city, including wealthy districts; 'inner city school' points specifically to poorer central areas.
- disadvantaged school
- Focuses on the lack of money and support rather than on the location, so it can describe a poor rural school too.
- title I school
- An American official label for a school serving low-income families; it is a funding category, not a description of the city center.
Opposites
Word family
- inner city noun
- The poor central part of a large city, where such schools are usually found.
- inner-city adjective
- The hyphenated form used before nouns, as in 'inner-city housing'.
Commonly confused: inner city school or city school? inner city school or public school?
inner city school vs city school
'City school' simply means a school in a city and says nothing about poverty; 'inner city school' adds the idea of a poor central district.
inner city school vs public school
In the US this means a state-funded school of any kind; in Britain it means a private fee-paying school, so the two terms are not interchangeable.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'inner city school' most naturally?
Choose one answer.
'Inner city school' means a school in a poor central district of a big city, so 'in the capital' fits. The village, the wealthy suburb, and the countryside all contradict the 'inner city' part.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “inner city school”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.