Torrent & Torrents

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Hi,I've three questions to ask. 1. I see A torrent of tears streamed down her cheeks.Tears streamed down her face in torrentsbut I don't seeTorrents of tears streamed down her cheeks.Is it grammatically incorrect? If so why.2. Is the following sentence grammatically correct? Mountain torrents surging down the river. Or you have to write it like Mountain torrents surging down the valley and into river.If I've to omit the valley part and just want to describe the 'mountain torrents flowing into river' part, how would I have to write it? 3. What is a child who talks like gown-ups called? I want something that is said humorously. For example, kid who talks too much is called a gabby kid or chatty kid or chatterbox. In my language, the word we use literally means ripe. But as far as I know ripe can be offensive as it's a sexual connotation.I see words like brat, smart-ass, smarty-pants but they seem to be used for badly behaved kids. What I am looking for is someone who is not ill-mannered but just a bit over-curious and smart for his/her age. And what such behavior would be called.Thank you.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

LearnerEnglishI don't see Torrents of tears streamed down her cheeks. Is it grammatically incorrect?

No, it is not incorrect. It's possible. Maybe you will see that one some day too.

LearnerEnglish2. Is the following sentence grammatically correct? Mountain torrents surging down the river.

No, but you can write Mountain torrents [are surging / surge] down the river.

LearnerEnglishOr you have to write it like Mountain torrents are surging down the valley and into river.

You can, but you don't have to.

LearnerEnglishjust want to describe the 'mountain torrents flowing into the river' part

The mountain torrents [flow / are flowing] into the river.

LearnerEnglishIn my language, the word we use literally means ripe.

In that case the closest English word is "mature"; however, it's an ordinary word; it's not humorous, and you said you wanted something humorous.

LearnerEnglishWhat I am looking for is someone who is not ill-mannered but just a bit over-curious and smart for his/her age. And what such behavior would be called.

precocious

But here again, it's not really a very funny word.

CJ

LearnerEnglish · Answer

Thanks for your swift reply.

So it seems there is no such word that doesn't have a serious tone in it. I was thinking to write 'precocious' but didn't as it sounds more like a formal word.

If you don't mind I want to follow up a question from my previous thread here. I would really appreciate it.

She is entering the Hollywood "grabbing the hands of the success" of latest TV drama serials.

How would you replace the "grabbing the hands of the success" ,which is the literal meaning of the original text, if you want to have "hand" in there.

Thanks again for your time.

CalifJim · Answer

LearnerEnglishHow would you replace the "grabbing the hands of the success" ,which is the literal meaning of the original text, if you want to have "hand" in there.

'hands' is part of an idiom, so "grabbing the hands of" is not a literal meaning, and it's not really possible to change it unless you just substitute "taking" for "grabbing". Basically it means she is taking advantage of the success of previous TV productions of the same kind. Another expression like this is "riding on the coattails of".

I have already mentioned "with a helping hand from" in another thread, but you need a particular person whose help was important in order to put that into this sentence, for example,

She is entering Hollywood with a helping hand from the director of the latest TV drama serials.

CJ

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