shopping made easy

[diamondcutter]

Lesson 32 Shopping made easy

People are not so honest as they once were. The temptation to steal is greater than ever before -- especially in large shops. A detective recently watched a well-dressed woman who always went into a large store on Monday mornings. One Monday, there were fewer people in the shop than usual when the woman came in, so it was easier for the detective to watch her. The woman first bought a few small articles. After a little time, she chose one of the most expensive dresses in the shop and handed it to an assistant who wrapped it up for her as quickly as possible. Then the woman simply took the parcel and walked out of the shop without paying. When she was arrested, the detective found out that the shop assistant was her daughter. The girl ‘gave’ her mother a free dress once a week !
(New Concept English 2, Longman)

I have two questions about this passage.

1. Does the title mean shopping was made easy?
2. Should ‘handed it to an assistant who wrapped it up for her as quickly as possible’ be ‘handed it to an assistant, who wrapped it up for her as quickly as possible’. That is to say ‘who wrapped it up for her as quickly as possible’ is an non-restrictive attributive clause.

Thanks a lot in advance.

 

[Tdol]

1 More or less, but xxx made easy is a standard expression for something that explains an easy way to do something.
2 I would put a comma in.

 

[diamondcutter]

1 More or less, but xxx made easy is a standard expression for something that explains an easy way to do something.

Thanks, Tdol.

Would you please give some more examples of using 'made easy' in that way?

 

[Phaedrus]

Would you please give some more examples of using 'made easy' in that way?

It's commonly used in nonfiction book titles. I just searched "made easy" in Amazon.com (books) and got 75 pages of results.

 

[diamondcutter]

Thanks, Phaedrus.

So, 'made easy' actually acts as a compound adjective?

 

[GoesStation]

Thanks, Phaedrus.

So, 'made easy' actually acts as a compound adjective?

It modifies the noun that it follows, so I suppose a grammarian might classify it as one.