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I was leaning against a tree on the hill , sitting.

My query is whether or not we should treat "sitting" as present participle with adverbial meaning, or as past-continuous tense.

To clarify , I want to show them in example

I was leaning against a tree on the hill while sitting.

or

I was leaning against a tree on the hill and I was sitting.

What meaning does "sitting" in the original sentence ascribe to the overall meaning of the sentence?

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  • I don't follow the difference you intend to make between the two examples.
    – Colin Fine
    Commented Jan 31, 2016 at 19:54
  • To which of these two examples is the original sentence the most closest in terms of meaning? @ColinFine
    – Cihangir Çam
    Commented Jan 31, 2016 at 19:59
  • I can't see a significant difference between the meanings of the two examples.
    – Colin Fine
    Commented Jan 31, 2016 at 20:10
  • "I sat, leaning against the tree." is one way to say it. So is "I was seated, leaning against the tree." (I am also a bit confused by the question.)
    – The Nate
    Commented Feb 4, 2016 at 15:41

1 Answer 1

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I was sitting up against a tree on the hill. To me, I think that leaning is implied.....compared to; I was sitting straight as an arrow up against a tree on the hill. By definition, if you are sitting up against a tree, leaning is implied.

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  • the action of leaning could be realized through sitting or standing.I added "sitting" to imply how I was leaning.@Lambie
    – Cihangir Çam
    Commented Jan 31, 2016 at 19:56
  • If the focus is sitting up against, the leaning is implied. There is no need to say it. However, there would be a need to say straight to remove the implied leaning.
    – Lambie
    Commented Jan 31, 2016 at 20:13

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