I am writing a book and one of my characters is angry but I feel like angry doesn't fit in and that enraged makes more sense and also makes the language of the book better but I'm not sure if it makes sense. The whole sentence is: "When I finally reached him the grin he had once sported faded away to an enraged expression".
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1I've seen "enraged expression" used in quite a few places around the internet and I can't see any problem with it. It's an expression indicating great anger or fury.– John CliffordFeb 6, 2016 at 22:48
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Thank you, I don't know it just didn't sound right in my head so I thought I would get other people's perspective on it– Melody02LFeb 6, 2016 at 22:50
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Pretty much the only thing I can think of to say against it is that "an expression of rage" might be more suitable as someone might argue that this makes it sound like the expression itself is enraged, but expressions don't have emotions so that would be a moot point.– John CliffordFeb 6, 2016 at 22:52
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1That makes complete sense to me, and I have seen it somewhere in the many good books that I have read. If you would like to change it up, you could use an alternative like "expression of rage", e.g. "When I finally reached him, the grin he had once sported faded away, and an expression of rage swept across his face." At any rate, I think that there should be a comma after "him".– Kai MaxfieldFeb 6, 2016 at 23:06
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Appears common enough google.co.uk/…– Martin SmithFeb 6, 2016 at 23:22
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2 Answers
Please refer to the book The Last Moon
"enraged expression" is the phrase used; "an" is not used due to phoenetic sound starts with 'n'
Here is the same phrase used in one more book "Scarred Heaven"
Poetic license is yours to use, however, I should think about it a second time before I wrote "enraged expression"
Enraged to me suggests the noun is somehow sentient, possibly even intelligent, but that this intelligence has been set aside due to rage. To speak of an expression with intelligence of its own (ie. one that doesn't belong to the owner of the face, but to the expression itself), makes little sense to me. Perhaps it makes sense to you, or perhaps it makes sense in the broader context of your writing?
Alternatives might be
When I finally reached him the grin he had once sported faded to rage
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When I finally reached him the grin he had once sported faded to an expression of rage
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When I finally reached him the grin he had once sported faded away, and a rage filled him like no other
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When I finally reached him the grin he had once sported faded away, now completely enraged
Good luck on your book!
