Tom Stoppard

2 6.5

A British writer of plays and film scripts

proper noun

: Tom Stoppard

Tom Stoppard won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for 'Shakespeare in Love'.

Examples

The latest revival of Tom Stoppard's play drew large audiences in London.
Many critics admire Tom Stoppard for his clever dialogue.
Many students study the works of Tom Stoppard in modern drama courses.
Did you know Tom Stoppard was born in Czechoslovakia?
Many students study the works of Tom Stoppard in modern drama courses.
The latest revival of Tom Stoppard's play drew large audiences in London.
Tom Stoppard won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for 'Shakespeare in Love'.

Synonyms

Stoppard

vsTom Stoppard

5 7.4

A British writer of plays known for clever and thoughtful work like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

is the same person but usually cited by full name rather than surname

Surface Forms

Tom Stoppard main

Morphology

Tom + Stoppard

This is a personal name (proper noun) referring to an individual; the meanings of the constituent tokens 'Tom' and 'Stoppard' do not compose to yield the information that he is a British playwright. Proper names are referential and language-specific, so a B1 learner who knows the words will not be able to derive the biographical/occupational meaning from the parts.

Etymology

Tom Stoppard was born in what is now the Czech Republic but moved to Britain as a child, and he began using a short English name when he started his writing career. That's why Tom Stoppard is the name we use for the famous 'British playwright' today.