stumble
part of speech
verb (stumble, stumbles, stumbled, stumbling); noun (a stumble)
meaning for a pupil
1) To stumble is to trip and almost fall when walking or running. tree →
2) To stumble is to make mistakes or stop when speaking or reading aloud. tree →
3) To stumble on or across something is to find it by chance. tree →
sense in the lessons
In stories «stumble» shows a character is tired, hurt, in the dark or scared. In reading lessons a pupil may «stumble over a hard word». In safety lessons, clear the floor so nobody stumbles over toys or cables. Adventure stories use «stumbled upon a secret cave». Phrases: «stumble over», «stumble on/upon/across».
examples
- I stumbled on the stairs but didn't fall. tree →
- He stumbled over a tree root in the dark. tree →
- She stumbled over the long word when reading aloud. tree →
- We stumbled upon a hidden path in the woods. tree →
- The tired hiker stumbled into camp. tree →
- Pick up your toys so nobody stumbles. tree →
- The horse stumbled but kept running. tree →
- Soon he stumbled upon thickly strewn dry willow sticks. tree →
note
Past: stumbled. «Stumble» is almost falling; «trip» is catching your foot; «fall» means you end up on the ground. «Stumble on/across» = find by luck, not walk on.
In the corpora
- For an hour or two they stumble on, pretending every tree is an old friend, falling into holes, soaked and bruised.
- Example: a boy in Toronto learning the piano keeps stumbling on one hard bar.
- In Manchester, Lettie's mum is slurring her words and stumbling at tea time, and she forgets Lettie's school play.
- Drinking too much alcohol changes how people act: slurring words, stumbling, forgetting, getting loud.
- At pick-up, Liam-Jay's mum is stumbling and slurring.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «stumble» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.