How would I keep using past tense with resulting actions
I'm having trouble figuring out which form is the past tense for sentences like these. For each example, which would be correct? Or have I completely missed something?
Thanks.
John stepped on the teacup, smashing it like an egg.
or
John stepped on the teacup and smashed it like an egg.
Will shook the bush and pixies came tumbling out, yelling.
or
Will shook the bush and yelling pixies tumbled out.
The second one seems more correct in each case, but both sound fine to my ear.
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1 answer
Writer Preference
Both ways are correct. In your first example, 'smashing it like an egg' is a dependent clause. The second line converts it to a compound verb and an adverb clause. In your second example, both versions use the conjunction 'and' to join two independent clauses.
In cases like these, it is purely a matter of which version you think sounds better and contributes more to what you are writing.
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