New2grammar  +  537766 Mon, 07 Jul 08 02:57 PM It was a beautiful place - a stucco white design with large open windows, so you could look out at the beach while you were eating. Does it mean the windows were all open? Thanks. New2grammar Joined on Tue, Nov 21 2006 Veteran Member 7,676 Who wants to go sailing around the world with me?

	Mr Wordy  +  537769 Mon, 07 Jul 08 03:02 PM Seems unlikely. It most probably means that the windows are unobstructed. Mr Wordy Joined on Tue, May 27 2008 Senior Member 2,359 Native British English speaker

	optilang  +  537773 Mon, 07 Jul 08 03:04 PM New2grammar “It was a beautiful place - a stucco white design with large open windows, so you could look out at the beach while you were eating. Does it mean the windows were all open? Thanks. ” Sounds strange to me, but that's my understanding. optilang Joined on Tue, May 13 2008 Poland Senior Member 2,518 OptiNative British English Speaker Wherever I may roam, I'm still a Londoner.

	New2grammar  +  537775 Mon, 07 Jul 08 03:06 PM Sorry. Mr Wordy but I don't understand the meaning of open here. Are you saying the view is unobstructed, meaning you can see whatever is outside the window? New2grammar

	optilang  +  537778 Mon, 07 Jul 08 03:14 PM optilang “ New2grammar “It was a beautiful place - a stucco white design with large open windows, so you could look out at the beach while you were eating. Does it mean the windows were all open? Thanks. ” Sounds strange to me, but that's my understanding. ” On second thoughts, it doesn't sound that strange. If this is a hotel/restaurant, maybe the windows were always open at meal times, if the climate allowed. In which case it sounds quite nice. When I first read it I thought it was about a house, and that would seem strange. optilang Grammar

	Grammar Geek  +  537782 Mon, 07 Jul 08 03:20 PM I'd say it's ambiguous, but I vote for the "unobstructed" meaning, since the description is of a place, not a specific experience. A specific experience might refer to how lovely it was to have the windows open. Also it refers to what you can SEE, and doesn't mention the ocean breezes, scent of the sea, etc., that would drift into a window that was open in the open/closed sense of the word.     Grammar Geek Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006 Veteran Member 19,506 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!

	RayH  +  537784 Mon, 07 Jul 08 03:26 PM New2grammar “stucco white design” Not to quibble but this sounds better as "white stucco design." RayH Joined on Sat, Mar 22 2008 Contributing Member 1,555 Native speaker of U. S. English. Not a grammar expert.

	Mr Wordy  +  537887 Mon, 07 Jul 08 06:12 PM New2grammar “Sorry. Mr Wordy but I don't understand the meaning of open here. Are you saying the view is unobstructed, meaning you can see whatever is outside the window?”   Well, the view is unobstructed on account of the windows being unobstructed (by walls, other buildings, trees, hedges, banks etc.) It's a similar use of "open" to that in expressions such as "an open outlook", "an open field" etc. BTW, my thinking is the same as GG's: it seems to be a general description, and a general description is unlikely to say that the windows were open in the sense of "not shut", since at different times they might be either open or shut. Mr Wordy Grammar