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ESL forum > Message board > a question to native speakers    

a question to native speakers



ueslteacher
Ukraine

a question to native speakers
 
What would you use?
 
"I wonder if you have this in size 4", she said. Carol took the shoe and smiled the automatic smile she ____ for customers.
1) booked
2) reserved
3) held
4) stored
 
My immediate choice was #2, however the presenter of a webinar said "held" was the correct option. Why? 
They say, "the choice is obvious here because "hold a smile" is an idiom"....Wacko

23 Mar 2016      





ninon100
Russian Federation

reserved, of course.
errare humanum est :)
 

23 Mar 2016     



redcamarocruiser
United States

I agree with you and ninon100. Reserved is the most logical and usual choice. If the clerk "held" her smile, that would sound like her smile is frozen on purpose, as one does for some photographs, in my opinion. 

23 Mar 2016     



yanogator
United States

I agree with my colleagues, although I would use the present rather than the past, since it is ongoing. That isn �t an option, though.
 
Bruce 

23 Mar 2016     



cunliffe
United Kingdom

Reserved.

23 Mar 2016     



yanogator
United States

I don �t know "hold a smile" as an idiom, and if it is, it �s meaning would be to keep a smile on your face, not to have one reserved for certain situations.
 
Bruce 

23 Mar 2016     



alien boy
Japan

Never heard of �held/hold � a smile. 2. �reserved � is the correct choice. Bruce, I didn �t think that present tense would be in agreement with �smiled � (verb) as distint from �automatic smile � (adjective + noun). Cheers, AB

23 Mar 2016     



yanogator
United States

AB, since she has it in reserve at all times, past, present and future, the simple present is correct as well as the simple past.
 
Bruce 

23 Mar 2016     



alien boy
Japan

Thanks for the clarification Bruce! I �m struggling hard to improve my formal grammar knowledge, so I always welcome corrections & information on points of grammar. Cheers, AB

23 Mar 2016