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

Case 1: The opening of the wallet is irrelevant to the story You have already established that the woman has a small wallet from where she pulls out small coins. You can skip all subsequent restat...

posted 5y ago by _X_‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-18T21:34:26Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/48299
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T13:04:17Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/48299
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T13:04:17Z (almost 5 years ago)
# Case 1: The opening of the wallet is irrelevant to the story

You have already established that the woman has a small wallet from where she pulls out small coins. You can skip all subsequent restatements of this fact.

Any further repetition of the action can be reduced to

> The old woman pulled another small coin from her small wallet

or, if you want to stress that the action has already occurred in the past:

> Again, the old woman pulled a small coin from her small wallet

or, if the small wallet is irrelevant to the story:

> Once more, the old woman pulled out a small coin.

# Case 2: The opening of the wallet is crucial to the story

In this case, you may want to further expand on the action and stress that it is being repeated.

> Once more the old woman reached for the small wallet and pried it open with her wrinkled fingers. etc...

# A side note: avoid repetitions

The repetition could be a copy-paste of the "old woman pulled out a..." sentence, as well as having "small ... small ..." in the same sentence. This stylistic device may be welcome in fairy tales, and some form of poetry, but it breaks the flow of text in other types of writing.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-10-01T10:51:48Z (about 5 years ago)
Original score: 6