Children laughed, building sandcastles.

Meaning: The children were happy and having fun as they made sandcastles.

Choice of Words: Children are young human beings. Laughed means to make a sound expressing amusement or joy. Building means to construct or create something. Sandcastles are structures made of sand, typically built by children on a beach.

Alternative Expressions

The children were laughing while they built sandcastles.

Meaning: This means that the children were making sounds of amusement while they were creating structures out of sand.

Choice of Words: Were is the past tense of the verb to be, and it indicates that the action was happening in the past. Laughing is the present participle of the verb to laugh, and it describes the children's action of making sounds of amusement. Building is the present participle of the verb to build, and it describes the children's action of creating structures out of sand.

As the children built sandcastles, they laughed.

Meaning: This means that the children completed the action of creating structures out of sand, and then they made sounds of amusement.

Choice of Words: As is a conjunction that introduces a dependent clause. Built is the past tense of the verb to build, and it indicates that the action was completed in the past. Sandcastles is a noun that refers to structures made of sand. They is a pronoun that refers to the children. Laughed is the past tense of the verb to laugh, and it indicates that the action was completed in the past.

The children, who were laughing, built sandcastles.

Meaning: This means that a specific group of children, who were making sounds of amusement, completed the action of creating structures out of sand.

Choice of Words: The is a definite article that refers to a specific group of children. Who is a relative pronoun that introduces a relative clause. Were is the past tense of the verb to be, and it indicates that the action was happening in the past. Laughing is the present participle of the verb to laugh, and it describes the children's action of making sounds of amusement. Built is the past tense of the verb to build, and it indicates that the action was completed in the past. Sandcastles is a noun that refers to structures made of sand.

Related Expressions