Stumped or Stumpy?

"stumpy" is correct.

GPY"stumpy" is correct.

Thanks.

Can I ask one last piece of advice on a particular sentence.

'Her heart skipped a beat and stopped momentarily.'

Or.

'Her heart skipped a beat and then stopped momentarily.'

Which is better?

Assuming a likely context, I would just lose "and (then) stopped momentarily". It sounds a bit technical and literal in contrast to the "skipped a beat" expression.

ryansamturnerWhich is better?

Base on my imagination and reasoning, if someone had a trauma, his heart will be likely to stop, never mind "skip" a beat".

I can say: "Her heart skipped a beat when she heard her house was on fire". When we say, my heart skipped a bit...., we usually implied something shocking, or traumatic. Given the context, I think

Just to clarify, I am assuming a non-medical/non-literal context.

GPYJust to clarify, I am assuming a non-medical/non-literal context.

Yes, both. A figure of speech really.

The guy had just seen his wife for the first time in a long time, so he is surprised/shocked.

What about this sentence below.

He was winding me up on purpose, I know he was. He pushed and pushed me, trying to send me over th

Semicolons are quite formal or "complicated" punctuation marks. They don't fit tremendously well with racy narratives. Therefore I think your second option is better.

"He was winding me up on purpose, I know he was" is strictly a comma splice. I think you can get away with it here

By the way, returning to your original sentence, you can use the expression "her heart stopped" figuratively. It's just the combination "skipped a beat and then stopped" that sounds too much or too literal.