Could you teach me why is this sentence a singular form?
"Butterflies are naturally beautiful, but her wings were an exceptionally pretty marbled blue."
I wonder why is this sentence should be " her wings were an exceptionally pretty marble blue."
Butterflies have normally a pair of wings, so I think it should be " her wings were exceptionally pretty marble blue." , or "her wing was an exceptionally pretty marble blue."
Can anybody teach me about this?
Search from various English teachers...
Corrections · 11
1
Could you teach me why is this sentence a singular form?
"Butterflies are naturally beautiful, but her wings were an exceptionally pretty marbled blue."
I wonder why is this sentence should be " her wings were an exceptionally pretty marble blue."
Butterflies have normally a pair of wings, so I think it should be " her wings were exceptionally pretty marble blue." , or "her wing was an exceptionally pretty marble blue."
Can anybody teach me about this?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Please let me add more question.
For example,
Singular form: Today is an exceptionally hot day.
Plural form: These three days are exceptionally hot days.
I'm wondering why did the author put "an" before the word " exceptionally pretty marble blue" .
Can I say like this following sentence?
"The oranges that I bought were an exceptionally sour. "
0
It means that somewhere else in the text before this sentence, the author was referring to one particular butterfly so this sentence starts off talking generally about butterflies and then goes on to refer back to the original butterfly.
0
In this sentence, the colour 'blue' is being used as a noun. This is fairly common in descriptions in books, but sounds rather posh if you were to say it when speaking.
Other examples would be:
-The trees were a luscious green
-The wall was painted a bright red
0
「全然少し入っていない」 ＝ 「全然入っていない」…読み直した方がよかったですね＞＿＜
0
麻友子ちゃん、italkiで連絡するのはしばらくですね＾‗＾。最近調子はどうですか？
僕の返事はちょっと遅いかもしれないけど、麻友子ちゃんの質問は、なぜこの場合に「an」を使ったのかっと言うところじゃないですか？先に答えた人の説明はちょっと完全じゃないと思います。もっと細かい説明をさせてくださいね。
その理由は、「an」は翼の色について言及しているんで、大理石の色は単数だから「an」も単数ですよ。そして、その文は「翼は青大理石みたいな色です。」と言っているだけじゃなくて、その色をちょっと強調しているんです。「Her wings were exceptionally pretty marble blue」っと言ってもいいんです。でも、ただの述べることみたいです。感情は全然少い入っていないと言うわけじゃないんだけど、感情を入れたいときに一番自然な言い方は「an」を使います。
ちょっと、似ている例文を見ましょうね。
さまざまの色合いだったら、「Her wings were exceptionally pretty shades of blue」と言われます。「an」はまったく使えません。この場合、重点ポイントは青の「shades」だから、複数です。
でも、大理石の色は二つの色でできていても、「Her wings were an exceptionally pretty marble blue and purple」と言われます。「marble」は重点で、単数です。大理石の色は二つの色でできているのに、基本的に一つの色です。
最終の例だけど、翼はそれぞれ別の色だったら、同じ文法は使えません。「Her wings were an exceptionally pretty blue and purple」と言ったら、翼は両方とも二つの色なのか、それとも、それぞれは別の色なのかと言うところは全然理解できません。もっと細かくに言わなくてはいけないんです。でも実は、そういうことを本で読んだら、多分ロマンチックな言い方だから、文の意味を読んでいる人の心に任せますね。
じゃ、僕の日本語はちょっと可笑しいかもしれないけどな～＾‗＾ 単語も文法もたくさん辞書で調べたんだけど、いい練習でした。 いつかスカイプをしましょう！僕の日本語で話す能力はだんだん減っているよ！！！毎日勉強しているのに－‗－
anyway,皆さんに会いたいです！また会うことを楽しみにしています！じゃまたな、麻友子ちゃん！
Want to progress faster?
Join this learning community and try out free exercises!
Don’t miss out on the opportunity to learn a language from the comfort of your own home. Browse our selection of experienced language tutors and enroll in your first lesson now!
Start Learning Today
