Squirrels scamper up and down the trunk.

Meaning: The squirrels are moving quickly up and down the tree trunk.

Choice of Words: Scamper means to move quickly and lightly, and trunk is the main stem of a tree. Together, they create a picture of squirrels moving quickly up and down the tree.

Alternative Expressions

The squirrels scampered up and down the trunk.

Meaning: This means that the squirrels were running up and down the tree trunk quickly and lightly in the past.

Choice of Words: The is used to specify that we are talking about particular squirrels. Scampered is the past tense of scamper, so it means that the squirrels were running up and down the trunk in the past. Up and down are opposite directions, so the sentence is describing the squirrels moving both up and down the trunk.

The squirrels will scamper up and down the trunk.

Meaning: This means that the squirrels will be running up and down the tree trunk quickly and lightly in the future.

Choice of Words: The is used to specify that we are talking about particular squirrels. Will is used to indicate that the action of scamper will happen in the future. Scamper means to move quickly and lightly, like a squirrel does when it runs up and down a tree trunk. Up and down are opposite directions, so the sentence is describing the squirrels moving both up and down the trunk.

Related Expressions