water market

[keannu]

Please let me know if anything is wrong with the compositions below related to the picture.



1. The river smells like fish. or The river has a fish smell or The river smells of fish.
2. Many people seem/look happy because they are riding boats/a boat.

 

[emsr2d2]

Please let me know if anything is wrong with the [STRIKE]compositions[/STRIKE] sentences below, which are related to the picture.

View attachment 3335

1. The river smells like fish. [STRIKE]or[/STRIKE] :tick:
2. The river has a fish smell. [STRIKE]or[/STRIKE] :cross:
3. The river smells of fish. :tick:
4. Many people [STRIKE]seem/[/STRIKE] look happy because they are [STRIKE]riding[/STRIKE] in/on [STRIKE]boats/[/STRIKE] a boat.

Note my corrections above.

I have made sentence 4 grammatically correct but it's factually inaccurate. There is only one person in that picture who looks remotely happy!

 

[tedmc]

I would say;

1. The river smells fishy/has a fishy smell.

2. The people look happy on the boats.

The picture looks like that of a floating market in Thailand.

 

[emsr2d2]

Notwithstanding the grammatical correctness of the sentences about the river, there is nothing in the photo to suggest that the river itself (ie the water) smells of fish. There is probably a smell of fish in the air due to the amount of fish on the boats etc, but that doesn't mean the water smells fishy.

 

[keannu]

Note my corrections above.

I have made sentence 4 grammatically correct but it's factually inaccurate. There is only one person in that picture who looks remotely happy!

Why doesn't "seem happy" work?

 

[emsr2d2]

I tend to use "seem" when I'm actually with someone in person and I'm picking up cues to their mood. In a photo, you can really only look at their faces so you describe how they look.