Struck by an illness

[Bassim]

Have I made any mistakes. I'm not sure if my sentence sounds natural.

Struck by an illness already as a small child, Bob spent more time in the hospital than in the day care centre.

 

[emsr2d2]

Just for once, I don't really like your sentence at all. Sorry!

- I don't find "Struck by an illness" natural. We tend to use "struck down" but also that usually goes with something minor like flu.
- "already" has no place in that sentence.
- In BrE, no article is required before hospital in that context.
- In BrE, "in the day care centre" doesn't work. We don't use "day care/daycare" much, let alone with "centre".

So ... depending on Bob's age when he was ill, I would use:

As a toddler with [name of illness], Bob spent more time in hospital than at nursery.
When Bob was five, he developed [name of illness] and spent more time in hospital than at school.

 

[Bassim]

emsr2d2,

I am wondering if it is grammatically correct to start a sentence with "struck down."
For example, in this way.

Struck down by tonsillitis, Maria had to stay at home for a whole week and she missed her classes.

 

[Rover_KE]

It is.

 

[emsr2d2]

It occurs to me that we already know that you aim for a BrE slant to your posts but it would be interesting to know who your target audience is with the sentences. Some of them wouldn't be out of place in Downton Abbey or a Bronte novel.
With this post, for example, if you were chatting casually to a friend, you'd say something like "Poor Bob! He had [name of illness] when he was a kid and he was in hospital more than he was at school!"

 

[Bassim]

emsr2d2,

Thank you for your observations. When I am writing a sentence, I usually don't have in mind any target audience. I hear on the radio or read in books or papers a word or a phrase, and then I am trying to write my sentence using those words and phrases. Regarding the sentence in this post, I imagind it to be part of a literary text. I wanted to know how it sounds if I start a sentence with "Struck by an illness". From your corrections I learned that I have to use "struck down" and that I should use the word "nursery."