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Anonymous Posted 21 years ago
Linguistics Studies

Odd sentence?

Anything odd about this sentence?

All of a sudden, there was a bottle smashing on the table.
  

Top answer

Anonymous Anything odd about this sentence? All of a sudden, there was a bottle smashing on the table. Awkward, indeed.

— Philip

  • Anonymous Anything odd about this sentence?
  • All of a sudden, there was a bottle smashing on the table.
  • Awkward, indeed.
  • How about "all of a sudden, I heard the sound of a bottle breaking on the table"?
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8 Answers
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AnonymousAnything odd about this sentence?

All of a sudden, there was a bottle smashing on the table.

Awkward, indeed. How about "all of a sudden, I heard the sound of a bottle breaking on the table"?
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Philip
Anonymous
Anything odd about this sentence?

All of a sudden, there was a bottle smashing on the table.

Awkward, indeed. How about "all of a sudden, I heard the sound of a bottle breaking on the table"?

Yes, I've already offered that to a crowd who s
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I do not see anything wrong with the sentence. It draws attention to the smashing of the bottle, rather than the who or what caused it to smash or who heard the noise of it smashing. It seems natural to me and to be appropriate to a narrative syle.
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Yes; you can imagine contexts where it would seem unexceptional. A fight scene in a bestseller, maybe.

MrP
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Philip
Anonymous
Anything odd about this sentence?

All of a sudden, there was a bottle smashing on the table.

Awkward, indeed. How about "all of a sudden, I heard the sound of a bottle breaking on the table"?

I agree, awkward. I'm also not a big fan of the
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ForbesI do not see anything wrong with the sentence. It draws attention to the smashing of the bottle, rather than the who or what caused it to smash or who heard the noise of it smashing. It seems natural to me and to be appropriate to a narrative syle.
How long does it take for a bottle to smash in your district? ;-)
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I don't think "all of a sudden" is intended to describe how long it took for the bottle to smash. Rather, it means something like "out of nowhere". It may not be a perfectly phrased sentence, but its meaning is perfectly clear if you don't think about it too much.
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ForbesI don't think "all of a sudden" is intended to describe how long it took for the bottle to smash. Rather, it means something like "out of nowhere". It may not be a perfectly phrased sentence, but its meaning is perfectly clear if you don't think about it too much.
I was thinking of the term "odd" meaning "not within the normal turn of events". In daily l
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