Authors, Writers, Publishers, and Book Readers
sentence formation
came across this phrase and thought it may need changing. whats your thoughts on it?
"His eyes as wide as his mouth were open."
should "were" really be "was"?
If others have a similar problem w/ something they've read or are writing. perhaps this may be the one stop help spot. add your concerns and posts below as well.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by David Bowman on
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The sentence, though awkward, is correct. If you structure it more normally, the use of "were" becomes obvious:
"His eyes were open as wide as his mouth."
"Were" applies to "eyes," not to "mouth." Otherwise, the sentence would have no main verb for the subject "eyes."
(The original is "Yoda-speak.")
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Permalink Reply by Carlo Tagliano on
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that makes too much sense to possibly be over looked, thank you.
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Permalink Reply by Robert A. Read on
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I think it just needs a couple of commas. (Not certain - punctuation not my strong point)
His eyes, as wide as his mouth, were open.
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