When John was hit by an apple, he shouted.

[Maybo]

When John was hit by an apple, he shouted.

I wrote the above sentence. Can I rewrite it as follows?

1. Hit by an apple, John shouted.
2. Being hit by an apple, John shouted.

 

[tedmc]

I would use sentence 1 since "hit by an apple" is not a continuous action.

 

[Tarheel]

John was sitting under an apple tree. An apple fell on his head. "Ouch!" he said, and he rubbed his head.

 

[Maybo]

John was sitting under an apple tree. An apple fell on his head. "Ouch!" he said, and he rubbed his head.

I still want to understand the sentence structure because I sometimes see those sentences and I'm not sure about their basic forms. I'm worried I may misunderstand the meaning.

 

[Tarheel]

Well, if I had been hit by an apple I would probably have shouted too. Thankfully, that's an unlikely occurrence.


It was hard for me to think up a context for that one, which was why I devised the dialogue.

That sentence seems fated to be an orphan. And while it is okay (more or less), the others seem less likely.

If it's a sentence I might actually use, then I might be interested in learning it. Otherwise, not so much.

I try to put myself in the shoes of an ESL learner. If a sentence is something I might say or I might see or hear, that's one thing. That's because I'm interested in what can do me some good. That's why when my ESL learner self sees one of those natural-looking dialogues he says, "Yeah! I like that!" It's not likely that you will ever get hit in the head by a falling apple, but it's possible, and if you tell the story right there might be some humor in it. (I like humor.)

 

[Phaedrus]

When John was hit by an apple, he shouted.

I wrote the above sentence. Can I rewrite it as follows?

1. Hit by an apple, John shouted.

I think that (1) ("Hit by an apple, John shouted") works as a rewrite of "When John was hit by an apple, he shouted" only when the latter is interpreted as meaning "Whenever John was hit by an apple, he shouted" (a description of a behavioral pattern). Compare:

We used to say, "Hit John with an apple, and he will shout."

In my opinion, (1) does not work as a description of a specific time at which John shouted: ?* Hit by an apple at 5 p.m. yesterday, John shouted. However, one could imagine a sentence similar to (1) being used to indicate a reason for a general behavioral pattern.

Kicked by an elephant when he was still in his mother's womb, John shouted a lot for no apparent reason and was eventually sent to an insane asylum.