Photo Descriptions

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hi,

This is photo descriptions again. (I always find photoes at shutterstock.com!)

[b]A woman is holding two books.

A woman and a man are staring at the same book.

There are three people in the bookstore.[/b]

Maybe… I think ‘A woman with glasses is hold two books.’ is also possible.
What do you think of my sentences?

Thank you in advance,
sweetpumpkin

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2

[quote=“Sweetpumpkin”]
Hi,

This is [color=blue] (about) photo descriptions again. (I always find phot[color=blue]os at shutterstock.com!)

A woman is holding two books. [color=blue]correct

[color=blue]The woman and a man are [color=blue]looking at [color=blue]another book. [color=blue]We can’t be sure they are staring.

There are three people in the bookstore. [color=blue]There are three that we can see.

Maybe… I think ‘A woman with glasses is hold two books.’ is also possible. [color=blue] no

3

If I take it right, you are to demonstrate how many descriptive sentences you could come up with seeing a photo.

Then you could go with: A guy and a girl (perhaps students) seem to be interested in the book they’ve just picked up at a bookstore. The lad holding it looks immersed in reading; the blonde standing next to him, with a faint smile on her face, looks relishing reading too.
[You could also describe the persons: they’re neatly dressed, he’s wearing a checked shirt and jeans; she’s dressed in a polka-dot blouse and a jacket and jeans, etc etc You could switch on your imagination and guess how close they are–fellow students/friends/lovers; what book they’re so interested in–love story/something they major in as students,…]

In fact, these photos aim to check how you master English, not what you’re seeing exactly.

4

This is correct as you have written it. It should not need to be changed to ‘the’ as suggested if it is a standalone sentence, as I suspect you intend it to be.

“There are three people in the photo.”
“A woman wearing glasses is holding two books.”

5

Some corrections.
[i]A guy and a girl (perhaps students) seem to be interested in the book they’ve just picked up at a bookstore. The lad holding it looks immersed in it; the blonde with a faint smile on her face who is standing next to him, looks as if she is relishing it too.

[You could also describe the people: they’re neatly dressed, he’s wearing a checked shirt and jeans; she’s dressed in a polka-dot blouse and a jacket and jeans, etc. [/i]

6
7

On the contrary, Sweetpumpkin has produced a number of posts similar to this in the past, where sentences are created which might describe what a photograph depicts. In each of them the sentences are intended to be standalone sentences… just a series of possible single sentences to describe what is being seen. I see no reason to believe the intention is any different with this one.

8
9

Ah, the usual abusive smokescreen. You clearly don’t understand Sweetpumpkin’s intentions and have nothing of any significance to say.

10

[color=blue]Oh, and you do? Did she tell you what her intentions are?? You are just a control-freak busy body!

11

Thanks for your attention, Bev, but with all respect, can’t get what was wrong with “immersed in reading” and “looks relishing reading”.
‘Immersed in an activity” doesn’t seem strange to the BNC: 1) He was to be found that afternoon, as he was most afternoons, seated in a deckchair aft and immersed in his favourite form of relaxation, 2)You are deeply immersed in fishkeeping (especially after you flood the lounge)… 3) Term started, and he was immersed in work… 4) He spent the year immersed in student evangelical activities, 5)It was too informal…, too immersed in ‘learning through doing’,… 6)… was still immersed in the process of reviewing the electoral register … ;
equally doesn’t seem ‘relish (doing) something’: 1)… and for the moment is relishing not working a 14-hour day. 2) We were soon relishing the walk along the Nfis. 3) Corbett gulped the rich, red wine, relishing the way it warmed his stomach. 4) …many of the passengers were probably doing the same, she realised, relishing the needle-sharp tingling of the water as it cascaded over her shoulders. 5) …who did not relish the advance to power of his rival. 6) ‘Shildon,’ he said, relishing hearing her surprise a second time.

12

Although it’s not always clear because the examples have been removed from their contexts, the examples all refer directly or indirectly to nouns:

  1. An unstated (in the sentence) hobby which helps him relax. (In context, the next sentence would probably indicate what that hobby or activity was.)
  2. Fishkeeping (the noun term for keeping fish)
  3. work
  4. activities
  5. activities designed to utilise a ‘learning through doing’ technique
  6. a process
  7. a 24 hour day (period of work)
  8. a walk
  9. a taste sensation/particular feeling
    4)a touch sensation/particular feeling
  10. his rival’s route to power
  11. her surprise

You relish a book, not reading.

To say
He was relishing reading.
doesn’t work in the context that Sweetpumpkin wishes to use it (where reading is a verb), but to say
He was relishing reading the/a book
is fine.

13

But how about “‘Shildon,’ he said, relishing hearing her surprise a second time.”-- relishing what he hears (the notes of surprise in her voice)?
I took ‘reading’ as a process/act --" Reading singular/uncountable] the act of reading or studying a book, newspaper, document etc I haven’t done much reading lately."–Macmillan

Why can’t you be immersed in/relish an act of listening/hearing/reading is still beyond me…

14

Shildon - he relished her surprise (through what he heard in her voice).

If Sweetpumpkin’s phrases were
he looks immersed in reading it
and
she was relishing reading it (the book) too
they would be fine.