[General] Can 'put ... into words' be used in this sentence?

[GrammarQuestions]

Hello, I hope you all doing good.

I'm translating a book to English for my thesis, and I'm wondering if this sentence is right.

[ How could I put his majestic death into words? ]

Thanks in advance.

 

[teechar]

Hello,

Hello, and welcome!

I hope you're all doing well. [STRIKE]good.[/STRIKE]

Thank you for the kind sentiment, but there is no need to preface your questions with any statement. You can just go right ahead and ask.

I'm translating a book to English for my thesis, and I'm wondering if this sentence is right.

Which language are you translating it from, and is the information on your profile page correct?

How could I put his majestic death into words?

That sentence is grammatical.

 

[GrammarQuestions]

Hello Teacher,

Thank you for correcting my mistakes, and I have updated my profiles information, the book I'm translating is in Arabic, I just want to know if "Put Into Words" can be used here, because I found that it can be used to express emotions and thoughts, I'm wondering if what I wrote is right.

also I want to add that the writer is trying to glorify the death of someone here, that's why the word majestic is used, , if you have other suggestions please let me know.


Thanks.

 

[teechar]

Thank you for correcting my mistakes, and I have updated my profile's information. The book I'm translating is in Arabic, and I just want to know if "put into words" can be used here, because I found that it can be used to express emotions and thoughts, so I'm wondering if what I wrote is right.

Also, I want to add that the writer is trying to glorify the death of someone here, and that's why the word "majestic" is used. If you have other suggestions, please let me know.
Thanks.

You can use "put into words" in your sentence.
Note the corrections I made above. You made several comma splice errors. Those can be corrected by changing the comma to a full stop, or by using a suitable coordinating conjunction.

 

[Tarheel]

It is hard for me to imagine why you would want to glorify somebody's death, but if that's what you're doing then "majestic" works there.

 

[GrammarQuestions]

Thank you teacher and Tarheel for your answers.

The reason why I'm confused is, from what I have found put (something) into words is used to to express (a thought or feeling) in words, I'm wondering if it can be used like in my situation this way, put [event] into words, so if my sentence is correct then these sentences should be correct too:

- How could I put Sara's wedding into words?

- How could I put my last vacation into words?

- How could I put the new year's eve into words?

the examples I found are like this:

- She finds it hard to put her feelings into words.

- He felt as though all three of them had reached an understanding they didn't need to put into words.

- He struggled to put his feelings for Jane into words.

- I find that I can put my ideas into words much better when I write them down, rather than trying to explain them to someone out loud.

 

[GoesStation]

You put your reaction to an event into words, not the event itself.

 

[jutfrank]

It doesn't seem very good to me to say put his death into words.

Obviously, I don't know what the original Arabic is, and even if I did, I wouldn't understand it. One of the many problems of translating from one language to another (an insanely difficult thing to do well) is that you often have to deal with bad writing in the original text, which may be the case here. If you can elaborate on what you think the writer means by this sentence, we may be able to help you more usefully.

 

[GrammarQuestions]

You put your reaction to an event into words, not the event itself.

Thank you GoesStation that was very helpful.

 

[GrammarQuestions]

It doesn't seem very good to me to say put his death into words.

Obviously, I don't know what the original Arabic is, and even if I did, I wouldn't understand it. One of the many problems of translating from one language to another (an insanely difficult thing to do well) is that you often have to deal with bad writing in the original text, which may be the case here. If you can elaborate on what you think the writer means by this sentence, we may be able to help you more usefully.

Thank you jutfank, your answer was very helpful too, well indeed the writing in the original text is not that good, the book is a short story about a man who suffers of a sickness and wishes to die, and he thinks that death is the solution of his suffering and all other people in the same situation, so he starts the book by how happy he was when he heard of the death of someone who was receiving treatment in a room near him in the same hospital.

It's a very sad story that was given to me by my supervisor, so I'm obliged to work on it, other than that I wouldn't read it. thank you all for your very appreciated help, and sorry for traumatizing you by this. I wish you all the best, you are all a part of wonderful community.

 

[emsr2d2]

Thank you, [STRIKE]teacher[/STRIKE] teechar and Tarheel, for your answers.

The reason [STRIKE]why[/STRIKE] I'm confused is that from what I have found, "put (something) into words" is used to to express no bracket here a thought or feeling no bracket here in words. I'm wondering if it can be used [STRIKE]like[/STRIKE] in my situation this way [STRIKE], put [event] into words,[/STRIKE] so, if my sentence is correct, then these sentences should be correct too:

1. How could I put Sara's wedding into words?
This works only if there was something about her wedding that is very difficult to describe.

2. How could I put my last vacation into words?
Again, only if it's very difficult to describe it.

3. How could I put [STRIKE]the[/STRIKE] New Year's Eve into words?
Again, only if it's very difficult to describe it.

The examples I found are [STRIKE]like this[/STRIKE]:

1. She finds it hard to put her feelings into words.
2. He felt as though all three of them had reached an understanding they didn't need to put into words.
3. He struggled to put his feelings for Jane into words.
4. I find that I can put my ideas into words much better when I write them down, rather than trying to explain them to someone out loud.

Thank you, GoesStation. That was very helpful.

Thank you, jutfrank. Your answer was very helpful too. Well, indeed, the writing in the original text is not that good. The book is a short story about a man who [STRIKE]suffers of a sickness[/STRIKE] is ill and wishes to die; [STRIKE]and[/STRIKE] he thinks that death is the solution [STRIKE]of[/STRIKE] to his suffering and that of all other people in the same situation, so he starts the book by saying how happy he was when he heard of the death of someone who was receiving treatment in a room near him in the same hospital.

It's a very sad story that was given to me by my supervisor, so I'm obliged to work on it. [STRIKE]other than[/STRIKE] If not for that, I wouldn't have read it. Thank you all for your [STRIKE]very appreciated[/STRIKE] help. [STRIKE]and sorry for traumatizing you by this.[/STRIKE] No one has been traumatised.

I wish you all the best; you are all a part of wonderful community.

Please note my comments and corrections above.

 

[GrammarQuestions]

Thank you emsr2d2, taking the time to correct me is very appreciated, I will try to avoid these mistakes in the future, I hope this comment doesn't contains one.

 

[emsr2d2]

Thank you, emsr2d2. Taking the time to correct me is very much appreciated. I will try to avoid these mistakes in the future. I hope this comment doesn't [STRIKE]contains[/STRIKE] contain one.

As you can see above, there were six errors in the comment. I will go through them:

1. When you say "Thank you" to someone, put a comma after "Thank you" and then write the username. Follow it with a full stop.
2. You had multiple comma splices. We do not connect independent sentences with a comma. We separate them with a full stop.
3. We don't say "very appreciated". We use "much appreciated" or "very much appreciated".
4. After an auxiliary (such as "doesn't"), use the base infinitive form of the verb.

 

[GrammarQuestions]

Thank you, emsr2d2. I learned I lot from my mistakes this time as you explained them one by one. Much appreciated.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Nobody has mentioned yet that "How could I describe his death" is not the same as "How can I describe his death."

When you use could, it means you're trangressing, breaking a taboo: How could I dare to?

When you use can, you're asking a question. It might simply mean that you want to know, or it might mean that describing his death is difficult.

In this context, I think can makes more sense than could.

I'm not a teacher, so I hope teachers here will comment on thes remarks.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

It is hard for me to imagine why you would want to glorify somebody's death, but if that's what you're doing then "majestic" works there.

In the movie and Mordecai Richter novel Barney's Version, Barney finds his father dead of a heart attack in a fancy brothel and says to the body, "You look like a goddam king."

You can't get more majestic than that!