suddenly
part of speech
adverb (suddenly); adjective sudden
meaning for a pupil
Suddenly means quickly and without warning, when you didn't expect it. tree →
sense in the lessons
In stories «suddenly» is a very common word that signals a surprise or a turning point: «Suddenly, the lights went out». Good writers sometimes use other words too (all at once, without warning, in a flash). In science and weather, things can change suddenly: a sudden storm, a sudden drop in temperature. In safety lessons, sudden moves near animals can scare them, and dogs can suddenly run into the road. Phrases: all of a sudden, sudden stop, suddenly appeared.
examples
- Suddenly, there was a loud bang. tree →
- The rain started suddenly, and we all got wet. tree →
- The bus stopped suddenly, so hold on. tree →
- All of a sudden, the cat jumped onto the table. tree →
- He suddenly remembered his homework was at home. tree →
- Don't make sudden movements near a strange dog. tree →
- The weather can change suddenly in the mountains. tree →
- The light suddenly went out. tree →
- Suddenly there rode past another horseman. tree →
note
Spelling: double «d» and «-ly»: suddenly. «All of a sudden» means the same. «Suddenly» describes how something happens; «sudden» describes a thing (a sudden noise). In stories, starting too many sentences with «Suddenly» weakens the surprise.
In the corpora
- An old Scandinavian folk story said lemmings fell from the sky in storms, because they appeared so suddenly in boom years.
- Dogs get stressed when a routine suddenly changes, for example when the holidays end.
- A happy rabbit may do a binky, leaping and twisting in the air, or flop suddenly onto its side to rest.
- The hole went straight like a tunnel and then dipped suddenly down into a very deep well.
- Suddenly the Queen stands in front of them, frowning like a thunderstorm: «either you or your head must be off».
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «suddenly» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.