a shrewd light entered his eyes

<b> Forum for those teaching business English </b>

Moderators: Dimitris, maneki neko2, Lorikeet, Enrico Palazzo, superpeach, cecil2, Mr. Kalgukshi2

Post Reply
Itasan
Posts: 557
Joined: Wed Nov 05, 2003 8:22 am
Location: Yokohama, Japan

a shrewd light entered his eyes

Post by Itasan » Fri Dec 07, 2007 7:58 am

"A shrewd light entered his eyes."
1. Did the light come from outside into his eyes
or did it come from his eyes?
2. Does the 'SHREWD light' show his anger or love or
something else?

Thank you.

engteacher
Posts: 39
Joined: Fri Apr 13, 2007 4:24 pm

Post by engteacher » Fri Dec 07, 2007 5:46 pm

Itasan,

If you give us more context it would be much easier to help you out.

Itasan
Posts: 557
Joined: Wed Nov 05, 2003 8:22 am
Location: Yokohama, Japan

Post by Itasan » Fri Dec 07, 2007 9:41 pm

Sorry there is no further context because
it's a sample sentence in a dictionary under
'light'.

rblajev
Posts: 15
Joined: Tue Nov 13, 2007 4:35 pm
Location: Dortmund, Germany

Re: a shrewd light entered his eyes

Post by rblajev » Tue Dec 11, 2007 1:02 am

Itasan wrote:"A shrewd light entered his eyes."
1. Did the light come from outside into his eyes
or did it come from his eyes?
2. Does the 'SHREWD light' show his anger or love or
something else?

Thank you.
I don't think it matters from where the light came. It is more like it appeared, the way an expression on a face appears. It is not a literal light, but more of a brightening of the eyes due to a change in thought or feeling.

To be shrewd means to be insightful, intelligently aware. Often it has a negative meaning attached to it--as if the person would use this intelligence in a negative way.

I think this would be the same explanation no matter what the context, as the light is not a real light. As this is an example under the word 'light' my only idea is that it indicates that the word light can be used figuratively or to mean a brightening of the eye (in this case).

I hope this helps.

Itasan
Posts: 557
Joined: Wed Nov 05, 2003 8:22 am
Location: Yokohama, Japan

Post by Itasan » Tue Dec 11, 2007 2:01 am

Yes, it helps a lot.
Thank you very much.

Post Reply