The bees buzzed busily, collecting nectar.

Meaning: Bees were making a humming sound while collecting the sweet liquid from flowers.

Choice of Words: Bees are flying insects that collect pollen and nectar from flowers. Buzzed means to make a continuous humming sound. Nectar is a sweet liquid produced by flowers.

Alternative Expressions

The bees were busy buzzing, collecting nectar.

Meaning: This sentence is also describing the activity of bees as they collect nectar from flowers, but it's talking about something that happened in the past. It's like saying, In the past, the bees were making a humming sound as they worked hard to gather sweet liquid from flowers.

Choice of Words: Bees are flying insects that produce honey. Were is a past tense verb that means something happened in the past. Busy means doing something with a lot of activity and energy. Buzzing means making a low, humming sound. Collecting means gathering something. Nectar is a sweet liquid produced by flowers. When you put them together, it means that the bees were making a humming sound as they worked hard to gather nectar from flowers in the past.

The bees buzzed busily as they collected nectar.

Meaning: This sentence is similar to the first one, but it uses the conjunction as to connect the two ideas. It's like saying, The bees were making a humming sound while they worked hard to gather sweet liquid from flowers.

Choice of Words: Bees are flying insects that produce honey. Buzzed means making a low, humming sound. Busily means doing something with a lot of activity and energy. As is a conjunction that connects two ideas. They is a pronoun that refers to the bees. Collected means gathered something. Nectar is a sweet liquid produced by flowers. When you put them together, it means that the bees were making a humming sound as they worked hard to gather nectar from flowers.

Related Expressions