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Thread: strike lightning from my eyes

  1. #1
    Marina Gaidar's Avatar
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    Default strike lightning from my eyes

    "- Is it true, everything they tell about you? That you’ve come from the Cursed Forest and that you practice magic".
    " - Well, I will tell you if I learn how to strike lightning from my eyes".

    In this context does it sound ok "to strike lightning from my eyes"? I don't really like preposition "from" here and I doubt that "strike" suits here, too.

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    Default Re: strike lightning from my eyes

    Quote Originally Posted by Marina Gaidar View Post
    "- Is it true, everything they tell about you? That you’ve come from the Cursed Forest and that you practice magic".
    " - Well, I will tell you if I learn how to strike lightning from my eyes".

    In this context does it sound ok "to strike lightning from my eyes"? I don't really like preposition "from" here and I doubt that "strike" suits here, too.
    No, it doesn't sound right if you mean "to emit a stroke of lightning from your eyes". Lightning strikes in the sky. I wouldn't say that the sky strikes lightning (though some might).
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  3. #3
    Marina Gaidar's Avatar
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    Default Re: strike lightning from my eyes

    So how would you say that in other words? It is, of course, shouldn't sound normal for real life, as I'm talking about a fairy tale.

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    Tdol is offline Editor, UsingEnglish.com
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    Default Re: strike lightning from my eyes

    Anything is possible in a fairy tale- fairy tales do not obey the laws of physics.

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    Default Re: strike lightning from my eyes

    Quote Originally Posted by Tdol View Post
    Anything is possible in a fairy tale- fairy tales do not obey the laws of physics.
    True, but they usually obey the laws of language. Intransitive verbs don't normally become transitive.
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    Default Re: strike lightning from my eyes

    I would say "shoot lightning from my eyes."
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