Prominent persons

Question

Please check out the following sentences.

(1) Since I entered senior high school, I have attended several speeches given by prominent persons.
(2) They are from various walks of life, like professors, doctors, scholars, journalists, literary authors, and so on.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

(1) Since I entered senior high school, I have attended several speeches given by prominent persons.
(2) They were from various walks of life: professors, doctors, scholars, journalists, literary authors, and so on. (like = and so on)

Contiluo · Answer

Thanks for your correction. However, another English teacher gave me different revision as written.

(1) Since I entered senior high school, I have attended several speeches given by prominent people.

(2) They are from various walks of life, including teaching, medicine, academia, journalism, and literary writing.

He gave me the explanation as following.

A—We use the term persons is most frequently used in formal and legal settings. It is unlikely that it is appropriate for what you are writing.

B—If you are listing some examples from a larger list of something, you can introduce this partial list with the word 'including'. This signals to the reader that you are not listing everything , but only enough so that we get the idea.

C—Also, walks of life is synonymous with 'fields of experience'. In this case you should list the area of their experience, not their actual professions.

Does what he said make sense?

Mister Micawber · Answer

His comment regarding 'including' is appropriate, and you can also use that structure.  His other remarks are inaccurate.

Prominent persons

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