in the middle of an area

[alpacinou]

Let's say you are walking through a field. You want to say you are in the middle is the sense that you have walked half of that area and another half remains. Which one better expresses that?

1. I walked slowly. Halfway across the empty lot, I saw a cat.

2. I walked slowly. In the middle of the empty lot, I saw a cat.

Is there a better way?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Let's say you are walking through a field. You want to say you are in the middle in the sense that you have walked halfway across[STRIKE] and another half remains[/STRIKE]. Which one better expresses that?

1. I walked slowly. Halfway across the empty lot, I saw a cat.

2. I walked slowly. In the middle of the empty lot, I saw a cat.

Is there a better way?

Both are natural, but neither tells us where you are. They both tell us where the cat is.

Try again!

 

[alpacinou]

Both are natural, but neither tells us where you are. They both tell us where the cat is.

Try again!

1. I walked slowly. When I was halfway across the empty lot, I saw a cat.

2. I walked slowly. When I reached the middle of the empty lot, I saw a cat.

 

[emsr2d2]

1. I walked slowly. When I was halfway across the empty lot, I saw a cat.

2. I walked slowly. When I reached the middle of the empty lot, I saw a cat.

It's unnatural to use that three-word opening sentence. Try to combine them. I'd say something like "I walked slowly until I was halfway across the lot, at which point I spotted a cat [position of cat]."
I don't want you to just use my sentence. I want you to use it as inspiration to write a new version yourself.

 

[jutfrank]

I don't really understand the question. If you want to say you were halfway across, then say 'halfway across'. If you want to say you were in the middle, then say 'in the middle'.

What's your aim in composing these sentences exactly?

 

[alpacinou]

I don't really understand the question. If you want to say you were halfway across, then say 'halfway across'. If you want to say you were in the middle, then say 'in the middle'.

What's your aim in composing these sentences exactly?

I wanted to see which one would be better and how they should be put in a full sentence.

 

[jutfrank]

I don't know what you mean by 'better'. As I've said several times before, which option is better depends primarily on what you mean.

I should point out that sentence 2 is rather ambiguous because it could be interpreted that it's the cat who is in the middle of the lot, not you.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

. . . I should point out that sentence 2 is rather ambiguous because it could be interpreted that it's the cat who is in the middle of the lot, not you.

To me, they both do. (See post 2.)

 

[Tdol]

I'd go for the first to focus on the cat. Others may well disagree.