[Usage] Prepositional/Adverbial Phrases

[AnneTrinh]

Dear Teacher,

Which one of the following would be better to fill in the blank of the sentence given below?

(a) Seen from high above the city,
(b) As seen from high above the city,
____________________, everything seems to be in its place, and life is so peaceful!

For short, can I say “From high above the city” or simply “From high above” instead of those mentioned in (a) and (b)?

Thank you very much in advance for your kind help.
Sincerely,
Anne

[SirGod]

*Not a teacher

I'd choose seen from high above the city or from high above the city.

Seen from high above the city, everything seems to be in its place, and life is so peaceful!
From high above the city, everything seems to be in its place, and life is so peaceful!


As seen from high above the city- this looks and sounds too "overloaded"
From high above- this doesn't specify the place

[Route21]

Hi AnneTrinh

As a NES, but not a teacher, both a) and b) work for me, but your two other suggestions have different implications:

“From high above the city” would mean, say for example, as viewed from an aeroplane or from a nearby hill.
“From high above” could also be read as meaning "from politically (or otherwise) high above".

Hope this helps
R21

[AnneTrinh]

Dear SirGod and R21,

Thanks for joining the discussion. I duly noted all your comments with many thanks.

Sincerely,
Anne