He ate the cake hungrily, devouring it in seconds.

Meaning: This sentence describes someone eating a cake very quickly and with great enthusiasm.

Choice of Words: Ate is the past tense of eat, meaning to consume food. Hungrily means with a strong desire for food. Devouring means to eat quickly and greedily. Seconds refers to a short period of time.

Alternative Expressions

The boy scarfed down the cake in record time.

Meaning: This sentence describes a boy who ate a cake very quickly. It's like saying, The boy ate the cake so fast that it was like he set a new record for eating cakes.

Choice of Words: The boy is a noun phrase that refers to a specific person, in this case, the subject of the sentence who is eating the cake. Scarfed down is a verb phrase that means to eat something quickly and eagerly, and in this case, it is used to describe how the boy is eating the cake. The cake is a noun phrase that refers to the object of the verb scarfed down. In record time is a prepositional phrase that describes how quickly the boy ate the cake, in this case, in a very short amount of time.

He polished off the cake in a flash.

Meaning: This sentence describes someone who ate a cake completely and very quickly. It's like saying, He ate the cake so quickly that it was like he made it disappear in a blink of an eye.

Choice of Words: He is a pronoun that refers to a specific person, in this case, the subject of the sentence who is eating the cake. Polished off is a verb phrase that means to eat something completely, and in this case, it is used to describe how the person is eating the cake. The cake is a noun phrase that refers to the object of the verb polished off. In a flash is a prepositional phrase that describes how quickly the person ate the cake, in this case, in a very short amount of time.

Related Expressions