When you describe a woman who is reading a book, you might say “A reading girl”. However, sometimes, especially for a painting- you can see “A girl reading”.
The former reading is modifying the girl and it is a present participle which acts as if it’s an adejctive. The latter is… “a girl who is reading” and we can delete ‘who is’ here. So the ‘reading’ is a pure present participle here. That is what I understand.
What I want to know is:
I’ve seen the construction like “a girl reading” only for the title of paintings. Does it have a kind of more formal nuiance than “a reading girl”?
I think the former - a reading girl - is more common. What do you think?
“a girl reading” suggests a girl who is now reading (not doing something else).
“a reading girl” suggests a girl who can be described in such a manner as a reading girl (not a writing girl, a painting girl, etc).
Mr Micawber’s comment is much better and profounder than mine: A reading girl may suggest a girl who is fond of and gives herself over to reading (durable).
Oh, that’s very interesting!!! I didn’t catch such features of pre or post modification. So for a painting, which portrait a girl grabbing a book, ‘a girl reading’ is more proper that ‘a reading girl’ because it catches a moment at which the girl is reading- we don’t know she loves reading or not. Thank you for your attention.
So for a painting, which portrait a girl grabbing a book, ‘a girl reading’ is more proper that ‘a reading girl’ because it catches a moment at which the girl is reading- we don’t know she loves reading or not. Thank you for your attention.