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Anonymous Posted 14 years ago
Vocabulary

"the lingering sounds of approaching night"

Hello,

I came across the following sentence while reading a novel.

"They enjoyed their drinks and the lingering sounds of approaching night . . ."

They are now sitting in the porch after they had dinner.
What do you think "the lingering sounds of approaching night" are like?

Regards,
Rino
  

Top answer

Rino What do you think "the lingering sounds of approaching night" are like? It depends where they were. City sounds are different from country sounds.

— CalifJim

  • Rino What do you think "the lingering sounds of approaching night" are like?
  • It depends where they were.
  • City sounds are different from country sounds.
  • In the city you might hear that the sounds of traffic are subsiding, and in the country you might hear that the air is becoming calmer because the breezes are dying down, and you might hear the calls of birds becoming less and less frequent.
  • CJ
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13 Answers
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RinoWhat do you think "the lingering sounds of approaching night" are like?
It depends where they were. City sounds are different from country sounds.

In the city you might hear that the sounds of traffic are subsiding, and in the country you might hear that the air is becoming calmer because the breezes are dying down, and you might hear the calls o
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Hello, CJ,

They seem to be in a small town in the Mid-West of the US, so I think it is the sounds you hear in the country.
It was hard for me to imagine the sounds because "lingering" sounds like "echoing".

Anyway, it is a sound or an atmosphere with which you feel that the night is approaching, right?

I really appreciate your answer. :-)
Thank you very much!
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Rinoa sound or an atmosphere with in which you feel that the night is approaching, right?
Yes. Exactly.
Rino"lingering" sounds like "echoing"
'lingering' is more like 'not leaving quickly', 'leaving, but slowly', 'still present'. It seems a strange word to use in this context. 'lingering' and 'approaching' don'
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CalifJim'lingering' and 'approaching' don't seem compatible, but that's what the author wrote.
I see!The sounds are lingering, but the night is approaching. The silent night is almost there.Thank you!
CalifJimwith in
Umm... I'm bad at the prepositions... and thank you for the correction.

We use "in" inst
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It's a rhetorical device similar to hypallage. It isn't the sounds that linger so much as the people do. The word conjures other words like "languid" and "leisure", surprisingly adroit writing for a vampire yarn.
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Rinodo we say "to feel something 'in' the sound"?
Yes. Well, I do, anyway. Emotion: smile

I felt
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Hi,

What do you think "the lingering sounds of approaching night" are like?

How about snores from the neighbours?
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Thank you for your answer and a lot of new vocabulary, enoon.

Rino
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CalifJimThere is no general rule. Each case is different. Sometimes you have to reword the whole sentence to make it sound right.
Thank you, CJ.

I'll try to learn to write as naturally as I can so you don't have to reword the whole sentence.
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Hi,
CliveHow about snores from the neighbours?
Haha! It'll be lingering until the morning!

Rino
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