with beautiful smile

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Angliholic  #545184  Wed, 23 Jul 08 01:07 AM
A lovely little girl walked to the two people with beautiful smile.


Hi,
Is it clearer to rewrite the above as the following? Thanks.

A lovely little girl with a beautiful smile walked to the two persons.
  
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Grammar Geek  #545231  Wed, 23 Jul 08 02:45 AM

The second makes it clear that it's the girl who has the smile. Why did you switch from people to persons?

You also might want to say "walked over to."

  
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Marius Hancu  #545232  Wed, 23 Jul 08 02:46 AM
A lovely little girl (with) a beautiful smile (on her face), walked to the two people.
  
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Angliholic  #545241  Wed, 23 Jul 08 02:57 AM
Grammar Geek

The second makes it clear that it's the girl who has the smile. Why did you switch from people to persons?

You also might want to say "walked over to."


Thanks, GG and Marius.
Now I get it.
It has been my wrong concept that when it comes to a few people, it's better to use "persons."
  
New2grammar  #545242  Wed, 23 Jul 08 02:58 AM
GG, I know the meaning of 'over' in this context. I wonder why walk to is not as natural.
  
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Marius Hancu  #545245  Wed, 23 Jul 08 03:03 AM
 GG said:

 >You also might want to say "walked over to."

Yes, or IMO "came/walked up to" 

GB hits:  

 721 on "walked over to them"

 1208 on "came up to them"

 753 on "walked up to them"

  
New2grammar  #545248  Wed, 23 Jul 08 03:12 AM
I know what she said. I believe she made the suggestion on the basis of naturalness, therefore, I asked what walk to sounds to her ear that makes it not as natural.


With all due respect, the searches are abused (sorry, the word shouldn't be taken as offensive. I used it for a lack of a better word). For example, do a search for "I" and "him" or "John", can you infer than "John" is less natural? My point is some contexts occur more often than others but doesn't mean others are not natural. I believe you do not mean ":walked over" is less natural than the others. If so, ignore this message.

  
Marius Hancu  #545249  Wed, 23 Jul 08 03:16 AM
 >I believe you do not mean ":walked over" is less natural than the others.

when the stats are this close, I couldn't have done that inference

I said:

Yes, or IMO "came/walked up to"

 

  
New2grammar  #545256  Wed, 23 Jul 08 03:37 AM
I see. Just a suggestion. It helps us (learners) to be able to read experts' minds. It helps if hits/counts are accompanied with some inferences. A short one will do, like I still prefer this over that or they are about the same as shown. The difference between the numbers can sometimes be misunderstood by learners to mean the opposite. Of course, you are already helping us a lot by just answering our questions. But sometimes, short answers create confusion more than provide help. Of course, we can always ask for clarification and you will get more questions.  Note: I don't have much problem with answers from other native speakers because they usually say what they feel even though in short sentences. I've no right to comment on a person's preference or style, especially it's voluntary work.Just a thought for what it's worth. Don't get me wrong. I truly appreciate what you and other experts have done for us. I can't thank enough.



 

  
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