suspense

«suspense» in Mova's judaism dictionary: the excited or worried feeling of waiting to find out… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (suspense, uncountable)

meaning for a pupil

1) Suspense is the excited or worried feeling of waiting to find out what will happen next. tree →

2) In stories and films, suspense is the tension a writer builds on purpose so that you want to keep reading. tree →

sense in the lessons

In the Tanakh and Jewish tradition: Hosea says Israel hangs back from turning to God. Interpretation: Tradition reads this as the problem of repentance, which is hard to begin even when God waits for it. In the primary lessons: In English lessons, pupils learn to «build suspense» in their writing: short sentences, cliffhangers, hints of danger, slowing down time, questions in the reader's mind, sounds in the dark. «Keep someone in suspense» means making them wait for news. Suspense is a key idea for mystery, adventure and ghost stories. Phrases: «build suspense», «keep in suspense», «full of suspense», «the suspense is killing me».

examples

• And My people are in suspense about returning to Me; and though they call them upwards, none at all will lift himself up. (Prophets HOS.11.7, JPS 1917) tree →
• The story was full of suspense. tree →
• Don't keep me in suspense — who won? tree →
• Short sentences can build suspense. Then silence. A creak. tree →
• The suspense is killing me! tree →
• The film's suspense made us hold our breath. tree →
• The author ends each chapter in suspense with a cliffhanger. tree →
• We waited in suspense for our test results. tree →
• ‘Ah, Princess!’ said the Queen, ‘don’t keep this poor Percinet in suspense any longer. tree →

note

Uncountable: «a lot of suspense», not «a suspense». Adjective: «suspenseful». Spelled with «-ense», not «-ence». Related to «suspend» (to hang): you are left "hanging". Do not confuse with «suspension» (being sent off from school, or a car's springs).

In the corpora

• Scary music is used to build suspense: it tells you something might happen before anything does.
• Repeating «closer… closer… closer» slows time down and builds suspense as the danger comes nearer.
• Repetition can build suspense and make time feel slow.
• An ellipsis is exactly three dots; it shows suspense, a trailing-off voice, or missing words.
• Suspense is the feeling of waiting and worrying about what will happen next.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «suspense» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.