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  1. Surrounded by people, the musicians stood up.
  2. Being surrounded by people, the musicians stood up.
  3. having been surrounded by people, the musicians stood up.

(A).What are the differences/meanings between the above participle clauses?

(b).When to use simple passive participles(Surrounded) and continuous passive participles(Being surrounded)?

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  • 1) doesn't necessarily imply any connection between being surrounded and standing up - they just happened at the same time. 2) implies the musicians decided to stand up because they were surrounded. 3) might be the same as 2, or might imply the people surrounded the musicians in order to get the musicians to stand up.
    – FumbleFingers
    Nov 8, 2014 at 3:14
  • Don't (1),(2) and (3) express a similar meaning?
    – Dinusha
    Nov 8, 2014 at 16:30
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    Obviously the meanings are similar, since in all cases the central information is the musicians were surrounded and they stood up. We're just talking about possible different nuances / shades of meaning / implications of the different phrasings.
    – FumbleFingers
    Nov 8, 2014 at 16:50

1 Answer 1

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I agree with FumbleFingers. I want to add that
1) It is a static status.
2) It is a dynamic process, emphasizing that the "surrounding" is ongoing.
3) It emphasizes that the process has been done. When musicians stood up, musicians have been completely surrounded, in which "surrounding" process has been complete.

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