Correction of Sentence

Question

Please correct the following sentence. Thank you.

' She gets her long, rock black hair palited with tassels, and the strands of jasmine flowers she keep in the upper part of the plait spills out fragrance around the place where she stands.

Mr Wordy · Accepted Answer

She gets her long, jet black hair plaited with tassels, and the strands of jasmine flowers she keeps in the upper part of the plait spill out fragrance around the place where she stands. [If "around her" says what you want then it would be simpler to say that instead.]

Ronda · Answer

Mr Wordy's response is perfect. But in case you want to see why SPILL is conjugated in the singular form

She gets her long, jet black hair plaited with tassels, and the strands of jasmine flowers she keeps in the upper part of the plait spill out fragrance around the place where she stands.

Strands, not plait, is the real subject of the verb.

Suggestion: Ask yourself if the word before the verb is the subject. (a plait cannot spill fragrance!) If not, you have to go back and find the real grammatical subject of the verb. This is a mistake that many people make (not just foreign students), and I would think EVERYBODY makes at one time or another.

... and personally I would use a different verb than SPILL (can you 'spill a fragranceé? If it's a liquid perfum, yes). A fragrance emanating from a flow can 'float around' for example...

Mr Wordy · Answer

Ronda
... and personally I would use a different verb than SPILL (can you 'spill a fragranceé? If it's a liquid perfum, yes). A fragrance emanating from a flow can 'float around' for example...

In my view "spill" is OK here (in fact, quite a nice choice of word). It doesn't have to literally refer to the spilling of a liquid. It can be used more figuratively.

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