each with 91 steps

[diamondcutter]

(Emily and her father, Bones, an archaeologist are exploring the pyramid of Quetzalcoatl in Mexico)

Emily: This (the pyramid of Quetzalcoatl) is a giant calendar. There are stairs on each face: north, south, east and west, each with 91 steps.

Bones: And the top step makes 365. One for each day of the year, but I think we’ve missed something.

Source: Kid’s Box 6, CUP

I think there are two ways to rewrite “..., each with 91 steps”.

(1)..., each having 91 steps.
(2) ..., and each face has 91 steps.

Am I right?

 

[emsr2d2]

I don't like the original much because "There are stairs ... each with 91 steps" is unnatural. Your second suggestion doesn't work because it's not each face that has 91 steps; it's each staircase.

It can be written much more succinctly:

There is a 91-step staircase on each face (north, south, east and west).

 

[diamondcutter]

I see now that "each" refers to "each staircase". So I think it's correct to say "each staircase has 91 steps".

 

[jutfrank]

When Emily says There are stairs on each face, she really means to say There is a staircase on each face.

This Kid's Box book is absolutely full of imprecise writing.

 

[emsr2d2]

They could have written "There are 91 stairs on each face".

 

[diamondcutter]

Each face has a staircase and each staircase has 91 steps. So I want to know whether it’s also acceptable to say “each face has 91 steps”.

 

[jutfrank]

That's fine, yes.

 

[diamondcutter]

I'd like to ask a new question about one sentence in #1.

Is there an omitted word "steps" after 365 in "And the top step makes 365."

 

[Tarheel]

No. There is not an omitted word. Is the spacing between parts of a dialogue in the original? (See below.)

Abe: This is really amazing!
Bob: Yes, it is.

 

[diamondcutter]

Hi, Tarheel.

I don't quite understand what you mean by saying "Is the spacing between parts of a dialogue in the original?" Would you please explain that to me?

 

[tedmc]

There are stairs on each face: north, south, east and west, each with 91 steps.

How about this:
There are 91 steps on each face of the pyramid leading to the apex, which is the last step.

It is understood that multiple steps form a staircase.

 

[diamondcutter]

In #9, Taheel asked this question.

Is the spacing between parts of a dialogue in the original?

Do you ask me whether the blank line between Emily’s and Bones’ words in #1 is in the original dialogue in the book?

If so, my answer is no. I made that blank line just to make it clearer to read. If that’s not necessary, I won’t do that again.

Is my understanding correct?

 

[Tdol]

Does it honestly matter that much?