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Abackwardsstory Posted 18 years ago
Grammar
Using 'inenarrable' in a sentence
0 Hello! I am helping my neighbor, whose native tongue is Japanese, translate something into English. While editing her paper, I came across this sentence: 02 br
02 br
00 "I also cannot forget the inenarrable eyes of aged people." Ignoring the grammar in the second half of the sentence for the moment, is the word 'inenarrable' being used properly? It looks strange to me, and when I used an online search engine, inputting "inenarrable eyes" using direct quotation marks, I got no hits. 05 0 00 says that the word is an adjective, so in that sense, it is as though the word could be used, however, it seems wrong to me. 02 br
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00 What she's trying to say... 02 br
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00 The translation is for an Atomic Bomb survivor, and the person talks about in the people's eyes, he saw something that was indescribable, but it also has the nuance of hopelessness, despair, etc. There is a Japanese word, but her electronic dictionary only gave her 'inenarrable' as a translation, and a word such as 'indescribable' isn't quite right. 02 br
02 br
00 If the word isn't used properly, how is it used in a sentence? It's a word that I'm not familiar with, and so I can't mark the sentence until I can figure out how to use the word. 02 br
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00 Thank you for any help!! 0230href http://www.m-w.comc www.m-w.com
02 br
00 "I also cannot forget the inenarrable eyes of aged people." Ignoring the grammar in the second half of the sentence for the moment, is the word 'inenarrable' being used properly? It looks strange to me, and when I used an online search engine, inputting "inenarrable eyes" using direct quotation marks, I got no hits. 05 0 00 says that the word is an adjective, so in that sense, it is as though the word could be used, however, it seems wrong to me. 02 br
02 br
00 What she's trying to say... 02 br
02 br
00 The translation is for an Atomic Bomb survivor, and the person talks about in the people's eyes, he saw something that was indescribable, but it also has the nuance of hopelessness, despair, etc. There is a Japanese word, but her electronic dictionary only gave her 'inenarrable' as a translation, and a word such as 'indescribable' isn't quite right. 02 br
02 br
00 If the word isn't used properly, how is it used in a sentence? It's a word that I'm not familiar with, and so I can't mark the sentence until I can figure out how to use the word. 02 br
02 br
00 Thank you for any help!! 0230href http://www.m-w.comc www.m-w.com
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2 Answers
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0 Well, since the word is a loose synonym for indescribable, I would phrase the sentence: "I also cannot forget the inenarrable looks in the eyes of aged people." 02 br
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00 Since the eyes, being physical objects, should be describable, I imagine that the experience of looking them in the eyes was difficult to describe. 0-
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00 Since the eyes, being physical objects, should be describable, I imagine that the experience of looking them in the eyes was difficult to describe. 0-
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0 This is a very rare word. I wouldn't usually use it for this reason, you don't want the reader to have to go to their dictionaries in order to understand what is being said. 02 br
00 Vorpar's 02 br
00 "I also cannot forget the 01 b 00 inenarrable looks 02 b 00 in the eyes of aged people." 02 br
00 is quite good, also 02 br
00 "I also
00 Vorpar's 02 br
00 "I also cannot forget the 01 b 00 inenarrable looks 02 b 00 in the eyes of aged people." 02 br
00 is quite good, also 02 br
00 "I also
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