---
title: fumble — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «fumble» in the school dictionary: To fumble is to handle something clumsily with the hands, often in the dark or in a hurry. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# fumble

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** fumble, Tom, She, He · **What happens:** be, handle, mean, search, fumble, find · **To what, where:** dark, something, bag, door

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«fumble» in the school dictionary: its 2 meanings 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: [fumble in the school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/fumble.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To fumble is to handle something clumsily with the hands, often in the dark or in a hurry.

<!-- fold The tree, 18 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:fumble:m1:1
# text = To fumble is to handle something clumsily with the hands, often in the dark or in a hurry.
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	fumble	fumble	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	cop	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	handle	handle	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
6	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	5	obj	_	_
7	clumsily	clumsily	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
8	with	with	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	often	often	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	dark	dark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
16	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	hurry	hurry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present |  |  |  | the dark or a hurry |  | fumble *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **handle** | to-infinitive |  | something |  |  |  | with the hands; clumsily *property* | vn confront-98 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent something=Theme with hand=Instrument |

<!-- .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.

## Meaning 2 {#m2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To fumble can mean to search about clumsily for something.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:fumble:m2:1
# text = To fumble can mean to search about clumsily for something.
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	fumble	fumble	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	mean	mean	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	search	search	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	about	about	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	clumsily	clumsily	ADV	RB	_	6	obl	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | can | fumble |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **search** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | fumble *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for something | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.theme NP.location»: agent=Agent about clumsily=Location for something=Theme |

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Tom fumbled with the button.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:fumble:x1:1
# text = Tom fumbled with the button.
1	Tom	Tom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	fumbled	fumble	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	with	with	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	button	button	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fumble** | past | Tom |  |  |  |  | with the button | vn rummage-35.5 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She fumbled in her bag for the key.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:fumble:x2:1
# text = She fumbled in her bag for the key.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	fumbled	fumble	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	bag	bag	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	key	key	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fumble** | past | She |  |  | her bag |  | for the key | vn rummage-35.5 «NP V PP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent in bag=Location for key=Theme |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He fumbled about in the dark until he found the door.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:fumble:x3:1
# text = He fumbled about in the dark until he found the door.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	fumbled	fumble	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	about	about	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	dark	dark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fumble** | past | He |  |  | the dark |  | about *property* | vn rummage-35.5 «NP V PP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent in dark=Location |
| 2 | **find** | past | he | the door |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent door=Topic |

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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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