mistakenly
part of speech
adverb (mistakenly)
meaning for a pupil
1) Because of a mistake; wrongly: «He mistakenly took my bag». tree →
2) Believing something that is not true: «Many people mistakenly think bulls hate red». tree →
sense in the lessons
In everyday life: «I mistakenly sent the message to the wrong person». In science lessons it is used to correct myths: «Some people mistakenly believe that…». In stories it shows a character made an honest error. Phrases: «mistakenly believe», «mistakenly think», «mistakenly took».
examples
- I mistakenly put salt in my tea instead of sugar. tree →
- Many people mistakenly believe that bulls hate the colour red; they react to movement. tree →
- She mistakenly got on the wrong bus. tree →
- The parcel was mistakenly delivered next door. tree →
- He mistakenly thought the test was tomorrow. tree →
- People once mistakenly thought the Earth was flat – in fact, educated people have known it is round for over 2,000 years. tree →
- The email was mistakenly sent to the whole school. tree →
- The goal was mistakenly ruled out by the referee. tree →
- But the shepherd, returning to the fold during the night to obtain meat for the next day, mistakenly caught up the Wolf instead of a sheep, and killed him instantly. tree →
note
Adverb from «mistaken» + «-ly». Means by mistake, not on purpose. Similar: wrongly, by mistake, in error. Not a maths word.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «mistakenly» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.