(said by the priest at the beginning of a wedding ceremony) 1) Let's make of this a vibrant ceremony. 2) Let's make this a vibrant ceremony. Thank you!
Thanks. "Of" is referring to an omitted "occasion" or "event": Let's make of this (occasion/event) a vibrant ceremony. You're saying that's not possible?
Are you meaning: 'let's make of this wedding ceremony a vibrant event'? because that sounds wrong. No. 1 is o.k.
Now I'm confused, you say 1) is OK? I just meant to say "let's make of this particular one a vibrant ceremony."
I'd go with 2. I understood what 1 was talking about but it sounded off to me. A bit more complicated and well unneeded. The second one is simple and easily understood by everyone.
#2 is the only one that makes good sense... while #1 may be correct grammatically, it doesn't read well, thus would not be good writing...
1) is possible but sounds really stilted. It might be said by a priest at the beginning of the ceremony, but most of the congregation would roll their eyes at it. 2) is quite normal.
Remember it's said by a priest, so it's dialog. It might be good writing if the intention is to show that the person has a stilted, slightly over-ornate style of speech, hinting that the priest is detached from the ordinary people.
#1 sounds too formal and maybe a bit archaic. I disagree that it is complicated and hard to make sense of, however. It is a relatively simple English sentence. I'd go with #2, though either will work. Digitig makes a good point, though. If the priest is a bit formal or archaic in his speech than #1 serves to better characterize him.
Either: Let's make a vibrant ceremony of this. Or: Let's make this a vibrant ceremony. I've never heard anyone say 'Let's make of this a vibrant ceremony.' It sounds like 17th century English. Nor can I imagine anyone, but particularly a priest, describe a wedding in church as 'vibrant'! The guests' outfits, or the entertainment afterwards, yes, because they about fun/entertainment, nothing to do with ceremony, solemn commitment, or praying. The word 'vibrant' connected to a wedding service makes me laugh, to be honest.
I hope I don't offend anyone, but number one doesn't sound archaic or formal to me at all. It sounds like someone who is learning English and having problems with the translations (I hear this OFTEN where I live now and where I lived before) and it's what we always termed "broken english" (sorry if that's not PC). If I read this I would expect more of the same to follow. If you wanted it to sound formal and archaic it would be more like "On this, the Lord in Heaven's thirteenth day of the fifth month in the year of our Lord (enter year here), we gather in this holy place to join these two people in a state of holy matrimony......" *disclaimer* I uh... hate weddings... so if my wording is off, well I think you get the idea anyway, lol. Even the word "Let's" sounds very casual to me, especially from a priest at a wedding. Not that it can't be said or doesn't happen, but if you want archaic and/or formal they aren't it, imo.
It's not broken English as far as I can tell. Grammatically, it works just fine. But I find the structure to be old-fashioned. If the priest speaks that way it tells me something different about him than if he uses the second sentence.
Like I said maybe it's just me, but it's often how people who are learning english speak. I live in farm country and there are a lot of migrant workers here and I hear sentences like this sooooo often.... (again I mean NO disrespect to anyone)
It certainly doesn't sound like normal English as spoken nowadays. As to the 'Let's', it seems informal, but really it's only informal in written text when you think about it; not many people say 'Let us' unless they are speaking very slowly, as in 'Let us pray...' But it all still sounds nothing like any vicar I've ever heard. Is this some hip Irish priest or something? (Nothing against the Irish, but some of their speech patterns are weirdly, sometimes charmingly, ancient). I'd still love to know what made you choose the word 'vibrant'?
I pick number 2. Number 1 sounds a little old. It makes sense, but I don't think it would fit in with 'let's'.
You got it: He is Irish, so he's definitely not an English learner and I am not choosing the word. It was his word, but from the recording (that I am transcribing) I can't quite hear if he says "of" or not. In any case, thanks for your help. Maybe I should just ask him
Irish makes sense, as their speech can be a bit more florid -- I could imagine Graham Norton saying it (though I can't imagine Graham Norton being a priest!) so it's credible.
