Seems almost a cry of pain
Hello everyone.
I have a question regarding the following two sentences:
(A) As she sings the song, she begins to weep, at times appearing barely able to continue singing, and her voice, always highly emotional, seems on certain notes almost to cry of pain.
(B) As she sings the song, she begins to weep, at times appearing barely able to continue singing, and her voice, always highly emotional, seems on certain notes almost a cry of pain.
Actually, (A) is from the original English text, and (B) is from an English examination made by a nonnative teacher. I think that the last part of (B) is grammatically incorrect and doesn't make sense. I mean, "seems ... a cry of pain" is not a normal usage, and the adverb "almost" cannot directly modify the noun "(a) cry (of pain)." What do you think?
You can see the original text at this webpage:
Top answer
"to cry of pain" is unusual. My first reaction is that it is an error for "to cry with pain", but if the sentence was written by a competent native speaker then perhaps there is a justification for it. The second sentence is correct.
- "to cry of pain" is unusual.
- My first reaction is that it is an error for "to cry with pain", but if the sentence was written by a competent native speaker then perhaps there is a justification for it.
- The second sentence is correct.
- "seems ...
- a cry of pain" is OK (shorthand for "seems to be ...
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"to cry of pain" is unusual. My first reaction is that it is an error for "to cry with pain", but if the sentence was written by a competent native speaker then perhaps there is a justification for it.
The second sentence is correct. "seems ... a cry of pain" is OK (shorthand for "seems to be ... a cry of pain"), and, whether you call "almost" an adverb or not, "almost a cry of pain" is
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