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Jackson6612 Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

Little cabins straggling off into the woods

Hi

I don't understand the example sentence fragment. How can "cabins" straggle off? They are static objects. Please help me with it. Thanks.

straggle (verb)

2 : to trail off from others of its kind *little cabins straggling off into the woods*

[M-W's Col. Dic.]
  

Top answer

I see this as a description of a painting, where the cabins are seen in the background, getting smaller and smaller as they are further away from the front of the painting, as if they are unrelated to each other or to the objects in the front of the picture. It's a case of onomatopoeia, giving inanimate things human qualities.

— Philip

  • I see this as a description of a painting, where the cabins are seen in the background, getting smaller and smaller as they are further away from the front of the painting, as if they are unrelated to each other or to the objects in the front of the picture.
  • It's a case of onomatopoeia, giving inanimate things human qualities.
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5 Answers
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I see this as a description of a painting, where the cabins are seen in the background, getting smaller and smaller as they are further away from the front of the painting, as if they are unrelated to each other or to the objects in the front of the picture. It's a case of onomatopoeia, giving inanimate things human qualities.
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That's personification. Onomatopoeia is when words for sounds sound like the sounds they mean (sound is a fun word, isn't it?).
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Emotion: embarrassedI am sorely embarrassed. Ido know the difference but was careless in this response.

Thanks for the quick c
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Jackson6612 to trail off from others of its kind little cabins straggling off into the woods
To me it suggests that there is a group of cabins close together, and then there are a few others spaced farther and farther apart, so that it looks as if they have wandered off from the group.

Like this:

X X X X X X
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Thank you, CSnyder, Philip, khoff. I understand it now.

Best regards

Jackson
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