---
title: diffidently — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «diffidently» in the school dictionary: Diffidently means in a shy, unsure way, without much confidence and without wanting to push yourself forward. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# diffidently

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, she, He, drawing, his, Tom · **What happens:** mean, want, push, come, ask, hold out · **To what, where:** yourself, drawing, hand · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
«diffidently» in the school dictionary: its meaning for a pupil and its 3 examples, every sentence parsed by Mova itself — its syntax tree, a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, and its pragmatics clause by clause. The word in the dictionary, with its sense in the lessons: [diffidently in the school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/diffidently.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Diffidently means in a shy, unsure way, without much confidence and without wanting to push yourself forward.

<!-- fold The tree, 17 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:diffidently:m1:1
# text = Diffidently means in a shy, unsure way, without much confidence and without wanting to push yourself forward.
1	Diffidently	diffidently	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
5	shy	shy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
7	unsure	unsure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	without	without	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	confidence	confidence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	parataxis	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
15	wanting	want	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	conj	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	push	push	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
18	yourself	yourself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	17	obj	_	_
19	forward	forward	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | present |  |  |  |  |  | in a shy unsure way; diffidently *property* | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Pivot in way=Attribute |
| 2 | **want** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 3 | **push** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | yourself |  |  |  | forward *property* | vn carry-11.4-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent yourself=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
"May I come too?" she asked diffidently.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:diffidently:x1:1
# text = "May I come too?" she asked diffidently.
1	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	May	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	too	too	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
8	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
10	diffidently	diffidently	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** *in a quote* | may | I |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | she |  |  |  |  | diffidently *property* | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He held out his drawing diffidently, unsure if it was good.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:diffidently:x2:1
# text = He held out his drawing diffidently, unsure if it was good.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	out	out	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	drawing	drawing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	diffidently	diffidently	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	unsure	unsure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	parataxis	_	_
9	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
12	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold out** | past | He | his drawing |  |  |  | diffidently *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent drawing=Theme |
| 2 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | drawing |  |  |  |  | good *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **draw** |  | his *= he* |  |  |  |  |  | nom drawing «communication intransitive»: poss=agent |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Tom coughed diffidently before he raised his hand.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:diffidently:x3:1
# text = Tom coughed diffidently before he raised his hand.
1	Tom	Tom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	coughed	cough	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	diffidently	diffidently	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	raised	raise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cough** | past | Tom |  |  |  |  | diffidently *property* | vn breathe-40.1.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **raise** | past | Tom | Tom's hand |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hand=Theme |

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**Text:** the school dictionary of Mova's schools (`world/data/dictionary-schools/`), written for Mova. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each meaning and example read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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