Is the sentence correct?

[Tan Elaine]

She unskins the plum with her teeth, withdraws the stone and passes the flesh of the fruit into his mouth.

Is the above sentence natural? Are there any errors.

Thanks in advance.

 

[tedtmc]

not a teacher

The verbs don't sound natural to me. Suggestions:

unskins - peels
withdraws - removes
passes the flesh of the fruits.. - puts the fruit...

 

[hemmin]

She unskins the plum with her teeth, withdraws the stone and passes the flesh of the fruit into his mouth.

Edited one
She peels the skins of the plum with her teeth, removes the seeds and puts the fruit into his mouth.

 

[bhaisahab]

She unskins the plum with her teeth, withdraws the stone and passes the flesh of the fruit into his mouth.

Is the above sentence natural? Are there any errors.

Thanks in advance.

It wouldn't be very natural in speech but In literature it's fine. It's grammatically correct and understandable.

 

[tedtmc]

'Unskin' is not a proper word actually.
The seed (not seeds) in a plum is called a stone.
The words 'withdraw' and 'pass' are not appropriate.
Such writing is not suitable for literature surely.

 

[Raymott]

'Unskin' is not a proper word actually.

Indeed? So why does OED say:

Unskin:
trans. To divest of skin; to flay. Also fig. 1598 FLORIO, Discotennare, to flea, to vnskin. a1652 BROME New Acad. IV. ii, I'le..not only unmask, but unskin her face too. 1655 MOUFET & BENNET Health's Improv. xxx. 278 Flaying and unskinning themselves as it were of reasons robe. 1935 T. S. ELIOT Murder in Cathedral i. 20 And our hearts are torn from us, our brains unskinned like the layers of an onion.

 

[tedtmc]

raymott
Try looking it up in other online dictionaries.

 

[Tan Elaine]

raymott
Try looking it up in other online dictionaries.

Are you certain that you are correct in saying that 'unskin' is not an appropriate word?

 

[bhaisahab]

Are you certain that you are correct in saying that 'unskin' is not an appropriate word?

"Unskin" is a fairly obscure word, but it exists and you are free to use it.

 

[Linguist__]

(Not a teacher)

The way you have written it originally, it is fine for literature, as bhaisahab said. Also, to me the verbs used make it sound sexual, or at least seductive - as if there is delicacy and intricacy to it.

 

[bhaisahab]

(Not a teacher)

Also, to me the verbs used make it sound sexual, or at least seductive - as if there is delicacy and intricacy to it.

Yes, I agree.

 

[tedtmc]

Are you certain that you are correct in saying that 'unskin' is not an appropriate word?

Well, at least I am certain that it is not an accepted word in Scrabble or Literati.

Perhaps, it would be interesting to know who the author of the sentence is. Elaine?

 

[Linguist__]

(Not a teacher)

If we are going along the lines of this being a seductive piece of writing, then 'unskin' has much a more 'carnal' connotation than 'peel' due to it's inclusion of 'skin' explicitly.

Analysing literature to this level of depth always bothered me in school. Indeed, I don't even know if this is literature! It could be a non-fictional description of a daughter caring for her disabled father for all I know! So yes, pray tell where this comes from!

 

[Raymott]

raymott
Try looking it up in other online dictionaries.

Nah, I'll trust the OED on this one.

Here's a quote from the press from a few days ago:

AP Interview: Hamas spy unafraid, criticizes Islam

News Wire article from: AP Online; 3/4/2010; ADAM GOLDMAN; 700+ words ...father, and he loves me." Yousef blamed his father's decision on the Quran. "The God of Quran is trying to unskin Muslims from their humanity," he said, later adding, "Muslims are good people. But their God is absolutely...