Ticce  +  425812 Mon, 01 Oct 07 03:01 PM She is always all smiles. Is it correct? What rule is it about? Ticce Joined on Thu, Sep 6 2007 Junior Member 81 English is not my first langauge - so, I might give your a wrong answer. To err is human.

	Yankee  +  425814 Mon, 01 Oct 07 03:14 PM Yes, your sentence is fine,  but I don't really understand your question about "what rule". Yankee Joined on Sat, Apr 15 2006 Connecticut, USA Veteran Member 6,506 Amy "You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." - Mark Twain

	Grammar Geek  +  425825 Mon, 01 Oct 07 03:39 PM "All smiles" is idiomatic - it just means she seems to have a happy disposition. Grammar Geek Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006 Veteran Member 19,683 Barbara, who answers in American English. My housekeeping skills attest to the truth of the second law of thermodynamics: Left to themselves, things get more and more random!

	Yankee  +  425835 Mon, 01 Oct 07 04:09 PM Hi Ticce It would be better to omit the word 'all': "She is always smiling." That is the present continuous tense of the verb 'smile'. In your original sentence, the word 'smiles' was used as a noun (and as GG mentioned, 'be all smiles' is an idiom). Yankee Verbs, Tenses, Nouns, Present Continuous, Idioms

	Grammar Geek  +  425849 Mon, 01 Oct 07 05:06 PM Hi Ticce, It's both a verb and a noun. When you are in the process of smiling, the expressin on your face is a smile. After her meeting with the boss, she was all smiles. I think maybe she got that promotion she was hoping for. Janet is so cheerful - she is always smiling! Grammar Geek Verbs, Promotions, Nouns