---
title: undertone — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «undertone» in the school dictionary: A quiet, low voice used so others cannot hear: speak in an undertone. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# undertone

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** quiet low voice, hidden feeling, He, She, angry undertone, undertone · **What happens:** use, not hear, speak, mean, say, be · **To what, where:** quiet low voice, undertone, words, it, soft undertone · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
«undertone» 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: [undertone in the school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/undertone.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A quiet, low voice used so others cannot hear: speak in an undertone.

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:undertone:m1:1
# text = A quiet, low voice used so others cannot hear: speak in an undertone.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
2	quiet	quiet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	low	low	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	voice	voice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
6	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl	_	_
7	so	so	SCONJ	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
9	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
11	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
13	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	conj	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	undertone	undertone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **use** | participle |  | a quiet low voice *not said here* |  |  |  | so others | vn eat-39.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **not** **hear** | can | a quiet low voice |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **speak** *speech: other* | infinitive | a quiet low voice *not said here* |  |  | a undertone |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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 -->
A hidden feeling or meaning under the words.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:undertone:m2:1
# text = A hidden feeling or meaning under the words.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	hidden	hidden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	feeling	feeling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
5	meaning	mean	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	acl	_	_
6	under	under	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **mean** | gerund | a hidden feeling *not said here* |  |  | the words |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He spoke in an undertone.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:undertone:x1:1
# text = He spoke in an undertone.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	undertone	undertone	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 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | He |  |  | a undertone |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She said it in a soft undertone.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:undertone:x2:1
# text = She said it in a soft undertone.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	soft	soft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	undertone	undertone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | She | it |  | a soft undertone |  |  | vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP PP.manner»: agent=Agent it=Theme in undertone=Manner |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
There was an angry undertone in his words.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:undertone:x3:1
# text = There was an angry undertone in his words.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	angry	angry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	undertone	undertone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | a angry undertone in undertone's words |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **word** |  | undertone |  |  |  |  |  | nom word «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

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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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