Slowly-moving queue

[natalia.kyrch]

Does the following sentence sound ok to describe a slowly-moving queue?

Like a long snake dragged along the street, the queue was moving exceptionally slowly.

 

[emsr2d2]

Does the following sentence sound ok OK/okay to describe a slowly-moving queue?

Like a long snake being dragged along the street, the queue was moving exceptionally slowly.

No. For a start, what/who is dragging the snake and why?

 

[natalia.kyrch]

No. For a start, what/who is dragging the snake and why?

I guess no one is dragging the poor snake
Can I compare the queue to a turtle then?

The queue was moving slowly like a turtle -- sounds fine?

 

[emsr2d2]

I'd probably use "tortoise" rather than "turtle" but that's only because, in the UK, that's the animal we use to express slowness of movement. I'd say "The queue was moving at about the speed of a tortoise!"

 

[Rover_KE]

Yes - a turtle is an aquatic reptile and can move pretty swiftly in its natural habitat.

 

[Ostap]

I guess no one is dragging the poor snake

I guess they are Because "dragged" used like that looks like a past participle (transitive meaning). You probably wanted:

Like a long snake creeping/dragging along the street...

 

[emsr2d2]

I guess they are because "dragged" used like that looks like a past participle (transitive meaning). You probably wanted:

Like a long snake creeping/dragging along the street...

"Creeping" is OK but "dragging" really doesn't collocate with a snake at all.

 

[tedmc]

An animal or an object does not "drag" on its own.

 

[natalia.kyrch]

Thank you everyone for pointing out the difference between a turtle and a tortoise. I've always thought a tortoise was just one of the turtle species, and I have no idea why on earth I thought that
How about a snail? Can a snail creep? Can we compare a slowly moving queue to a creeping snail?

 

[emsr2d2]

That sounds better to me.

One extra point - say "a slow-moving queue".

 

[Rover_KE]

I’m surprised our American friends haven’t mentioned that they’d almost always say ‘line’ instead of ‘queue‘,

 

[natalia.kyrch]

I’m surprised our American friends haven’t mentioned that they’d almost always say ‘line’ instead of ‘queue‘,

Any life hacks on how a nonnative speaker can learn all those differences between American English and British English, please? I feel hopeless

 

[emsr2d2]

Here's a helpful website with a lot of the most common ones. It's not a life hack, though. You just need to learn them!

 

[natalia.kyrch]

Here's a helpful website with a lot of the most common ones. It's not a life hack, though. You just need to learn them!

Thank you for the useful article, I'll try to learn them all

 

[emsr2d2]

Any life hacks on how a non-native speaker can learn all those differences between American English and British English, please? I feel hopeless.

Thank you for the useful article. I'll try to learn them all.

Note my changes above. Remember that an emoji is not a replacement for a closing punctuation mark.