As John was waiting at a traffic light

[Bassim]

I am wondering if my sentences are grammatically correct.

As John was waiting at a traffic light, he saw an old woman wobbling across the street before tumbling down. John, a surgeon by profession, jumped out of his car and rushed to help her.

 

[jutfrank]

Yes, they are.

(But I wouldn't use tumbling down.)

 

[Bassim]

Could I use "topple over" instead?

 

[jutfrank]

Could I use "topple over" instead?

Yes, that's better.

 

[emsr2d2]

"wobbling across the street" sounds odd to me. Whilst we might say that people are a bit "wobbly on their feet" to mean "unsteady", we don't tend to turn it into a verb in this context. She could have been "hobbling" (a slow, painful walk) or "tottering" (gives the same suggestion of unsteadiness).

 

[teechar]

Or, you could say "before falling to the ground."
[Edit: this post was meant to go after post #4.]

 

[GoesStation]

Or she could be walking wobbily.

 

[emsr2d2]

Is that actually a word in AmE?! It's not in BrE.

Wobble - verb
Wobbly - adjective
??? - adverb (logically, it would be "wobblily" but we don't use that - we'd have to use "in a wobbly way".)

 

[jutfrank]

Is that actually a word in AmE?! It's not in BrE.

Wobble - verb
Wobbly - adjective
??? - adverb (logically, it would be "wobblily" but we don't use that - we'd have to use "in a wobbly way".)

I'm currently undergoing exactly the same thought process.

 

[jutfrank]

In any case, if the reason for the old woman's walking in this way is a result of her being extremely large, then wobbling might work. But if the reason is her old age, then I think tottering is a superb choice.

 

[GoesStation]

Is that actually a word in AmE?! It's not in BrE.

Wobble - verb
Wobbly - adjective
??? - adverb (logically, it would be "wobblily" but we don't use that - we'd have to use "in a wobbly way".)

Hmm. I thought I had looked it up before suggesting it. If I did, I didn't find it.