Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[surfer]

I saw a sentence "Aunt Sophia paid us a surpise visit last Sunday."
Can we say "Aunt Sophia paid us a surpising visit last Sunday."

What's the difference between "a surpise visit" and " a surpising visit"?

[lotus]

Hi surfer,

We say, "Aunt Sophia paid us a surprise visit last Sunday."
Or, we can say "Last Sunday, Aunt Sophia paid us a surprise visit."
Or, we can say "Aunt Sophia surprised us by paying us a visit last Sunday."
Or, we can say "Aunt Sophia surprised us last Sunday by paying us a visit."
Or, we can say "Aunt Sophia visited us last Sunday. It was a surprise visit."

We do not say "Aunt Sophia paid us a surprising visit last Sunday." (sounds odd and ominous; probably not the intent)



--lotus