Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

Jerry Chen · Joined: 26 Jan 2006 Posts: 115

Hello,

Please read the following sentence:

With swords drawn and read to fight, an army of Greek soldiers quietly entered the city.

Is the above sentence strange?

Is it better if we say "With swords drawn and soldiers read to fight,..."?

Thanks for your explanation.

cgage2 · Joined: 11 Jun 2007 Posts: 192 Location: US

It sounds ok.
The word is ready, not read.

wintersweet · Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 11:30 am Post subject:

"With swords drawn and read to fight, an army of Greek soldiers quietly entered the city."

This is correct. "With swords drawn and ready to fight" modifies "an army of Greek soldiers." It's basically a combination of these two sentences:
An army of Greek soldiers, with swords drawn, quietly entered the city.
An army of Greek soldiers, ready to fight, quietly entered the city.