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Q&A Do we simplify descriptions when they sound weird?

The woman said as she pulled a small coin out of a small wallet ... The woman said as she pulled a small coin out of a small box she opened/used earlier. I am wondering if "opened" or "use...

3 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by woxim‭  ·  reopened 5y ago by Amadeus‭

#4: Question reopened by user avatar Amadeus‭ · 2020-01-25T23:38:10Z (almost 5 years ago)
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T13:04:17Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/48290
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar woxim‭ · 2019-12-08T13:04:17Z (about 5 years ago)
> The woman said as she pulled a small coin out of a small wallet ... The woman said as she pulled a small coin out of a small box **she opened/used** earlier.

I am wondering if "opened" or "used" is perfectly fine here, because the action used is vague when it shouldn't be (she took her wallet out of her pocket, she then retrieved a coin out of it), but using the right qualitative phrase would make the sentence more awkward than need be.

> The woman said as she pulled a small coin out of a small wallet ... The woman said as she pulled a small coin out of a small box **she retrieved a coin out from earlier.**

So what would you suggest doing. I am quite undecided on what's the best thing to be done in this situation.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-09-30T23:20:10Z (about 5 years ago)
Original score: 2