The wind was howling and the trees were bending right over.

[kuleshov]

• Thread topic>> The wind was howling and the trees were bending right over

What does were bending right over exactly mean in the sentence?

Does right over mean right over there, that is, does it refer to place? Or does it refer to time?

My guess is that it refers to the above part of the trees, kind of right over my head.

My second guess is that right only emphasizes the typical place adverb over.

Cheers

 

[se16teddy]

"Right" means "completely" or "properly" or "fully" here. They were bending over to the maximum possible extent - to the full 90 degrees, till they touched the ground, etc.

From the OED definition of adverb right:
2b. Used for emphasis with adverbs and prepositions (as off, out, round, etc.): completely, totally, absolutely, fully.

 

[kuleshov]

So over does just emphasize the bending of the trees, as in I bent over to tie my shoe. So over in this case means downwards.

 

[entangledbank]

Yes, trees can't really bend in any other way: when they bend, they bend over, so 'over' is just emphasizing the action, and 'right' is emphasizing the completeness of 'over'.

 

[kuleshov]

Thank you very much.