English language subtlety

来源: 小钊 2013-07-31 07:04:17 [] [旧帖] [给我悄悄话] 本文已被阅读: 次 (1063 bytes)
"It seemed that my mother’s fate was predetermined even before she was born – tribulation, gnawing sorrow, and a teary face."
1. "...my mother's ill fate was...", there has to be an adjective  like "ill" before "fate" for any listing of negative events and sense of predetermination.
2. If "predetermine" is used, something more specific than the vague "tribulation, sorrow, face" should be named. For example, loss of father before birth, missing of mother at young age, etc.
3. It's better to place any explanation of the "fate" immediately after "fate".
4. "even before she was born" should be followed closely by the story about the father because the story serves as sort of an explanation.
So the sentence should be rearranged as:
It seems my mother was destined to ill fate--tribulation, gnawing sorrow, and tears--even before she was born. She had never seen her father.

所有跟帖: 

destined to ill fate -wtl- 给 wtl 发送悄悄话 wtl 的博客首页 (11 bytes) () 07/31/2013 postreply 09:16:36

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