mumble

«mumble» in Mova's school dictionary: To speak quietly and not clearly, so that people find it… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 4 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (mumble, mumbles, mumbled, mumbling); noun (a mumble, mumbles)

meaning for a pupil

1) To speak quietly and not clearly, so that people find it hard to understand you. tree →

2) (noun) Quiet, unclear speech. tree →

sense in the lessons

In speaking and listening lessons: «Don't mumble — speak up and look at your audience». In stories it shows shyness, sleepiness or guilt: «he mumbled an apology», «mumbled something under his breath». Similar words: mutter, murmur, whisper.

examples

• Don't mumble; speak clearly so we can hear you. tree →
• He mumbled «sorry» and looked at the floor. tree →
• She mumbled something in her sleep. tree →
• I couldn't understand his mumble. tree →
• The shy boy mumbled his name. tree →
• Stop mumbling and say it again loudly. tree →
• Grandpa mumbled into his beard. tree →
• “What are you mumbling to yourself?” asked the Fairy. tree →

note

Regular verb: mumbled. To «mumble» is not clear; to «whisper» is quiet but can be clear; to «mutter» is quiet and often grumpy. The «b» is spoken: «MUM-bul».

In the corpora

• The Hatter mumbles about «the twinkling of the tea»; the King says «Of course twinkling begins with a T!
• Jake mumbles «ta».
• «I said I was GETTING it,» Theo mumbled.
• His mum makes him say sorry, so he mumbles «soz» to the floor.

Trees and pragmatics

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