he is overweight a heart attack waiting to happen

[alpacinoutd]

Are these correct and natural?


1. He is 100 pounds overweight, a heart attack waiting to happen.

2. He is extremely depressed, a suicide waiting to happen.

3. Their relationship is very fragile, a divorce waiting to happen.

4. The project was very ill organized, a disaster waiting to happen.

5. She is very talented, a music super star waiting to happen.

[emsr2d2]

Are these correct and natural?


1. He is 100 pounds overweight; he's a heart attack waiting to happen.

2. He is extremely depressed; he's a suicide waiting to happen.

3. Their relationship is very fragile; a divorce waiting to happen. The second half doesn't work. You could use something like "[a] divorce is on the cards".

4. The project was very ill organized; it was a disaster waiting to happen.

5. She is very talented; she's a music superstar-in-waiting. to happen.

Please note my corrections above.

See above. Heart attacks, suicides and disasters happen. Superstars don't happen. Divorces do happen but they're (usually) long drawn-out processes so it's not the best verb for them.

[Charlie Bernstein]

To my ears, they're all good as you phrased them. Maybe waiting to happen is an Americanism.

I'd spell out a hundred, though, and superstar is one word.

[Tdol]

The last really doesn't work to my BrE ears. I agree with Emsr2d2. I could live with #3, but prefer on the cards. The comma has to go in all of them for me.

[Charlie Bernstein]

PS -

And you might like using rock star waiting to happen rather than music superstar waiting to happen.

It's a more common expression.

[emsr2d2]

And you might like using rock star waiting to happen rather than music superstar waiting to happen.

Or "pop star".