pleasantly
part of speech
adverb (pleasantly)
meaning for a pupil
1) Pleasantly means in a nice, enjoyable or friendly way. tree →
2) Pleasantly also means to a nice degree: «pleasantly warm» is warm in a comfortable way. tree →
sense in the lessons
In stories it describes friendly smiles, nice weather and good surprises. Often used in «pleasantly surprised», which is a modest, understated way of saying you liked something more than you expected. Phrases: pleasantly surprised, smile pleasantly, pleasantly warm, pleasantly cool.
examples
- She smiled pleasantly at the new neighbours. tree →
- The water was pleasantly warm. tree →
- I was pleasantly surprised by my test mark. tree →
- A pleasantly cool breeze came off the sea. tree →
- The afternoon passed pleasantly in the garden. tree →
- He talked pleasantly with the shopkeeper. tree →
- The evening passed pleasantly like the one preceding. tree →
note
Adverb from pleasant + -ly. Spelling: pleas-ANT-ly (pleasant, not «plesent»). «Pleasantly surprised» often means «happier than expected», a kind of mild understatement.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «pleasantly» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.