Please improve this

Mental disorders are among the biggest problems of the homeless. There is a story about something which happened once in China. A kindhearted lady encountered a homeless woman whose clothing was tattered (this would be preferrable--she herself was not tattered) and who seemed very pitiful, so the lady (with two female protagonists, you need to distinguish which is which, even though it is apparent that a homeless woman would not bring the other woman home; also, took home is more common, although brought home is acceptable--it's a regional preference) brought her home. She (or The lady--once again, you need to disinguish between the two) bathed and then dressed her, served her nice meals and let her live in her house. But the next day, as the homeless woman looked into a mirror, all of a sudden, she grabbed a dressing case (not sure what you mean by a dressing case) and threw it at the mirror. With the noise of the breaking glass, the woman tore her garments to shreds, and destroyed almost everything in her room, and then left the lady's house arrogantly! (I have a real problem with use of arrogant in this context. To arrogate is to take upon oneself that to which one is not entitled. Leaving hardly fits into such a category. This might work if you described her manner as arrogant, or, in idiomatic English, one might say she left, treating her hostess in a high-handed manner.)

So if a good joe wanted to really help a homeless man, who perhaps suffers from a mental disorder, he might want to cure him first, and then house him afterward. Otherwise, the effort is useless. (Here, you might wish to say that the effort would likely be useless--as it reads now, it is a categoric statement.) But, mental disorders are the most difficult diseases in the world. (There are many kinds of mental disorder, and without being more specific, it is perhaps better to refer to them as a class, in the plural.)

My Father in 1973 took in a homeless man and the man set fire to the place. No real harm done because it was discovered very quickly. The bed cover was burned. It really does make you think about how dangerous it is to offer some assistance.

Hi Setanta, Thanks for improving.

(1) I appreciate "among".
(2) It seems " a homeless waman dressed in tatters" is terser.
(3) Okay, just use "took home" then.
(4) dressing case = powder box, some dictionaries didn't embody this compound noun.

(5) Using "breaking" and "shreds" is nice.

(6) I'd like to use " she left, treating her hostess in a high-handed manner", but to tell the truth, I could not understand very well why this is better than using "she left arrogantly" for the time being.

Other improvements were good.

'She left arrogantly' is wrong because the leaving wasn't arrogant, the woman was. Arrogantly is an adverb modifying the verb left. She left behaving in an arrogant manner or with an arrogant attitude.

Roberta, I still didn't catch it very well, because I feel that "She left behaving in an arrogant manner or with an arrogant attitude" is not as terse as "she left arrogantly". But the sarcasm is that I could not make sure my feeling is exactly correct.
But thanks.

'a good Joe' is understandable in context but makes no sense in English-English.

.... a wellwisher, a kind hearted person? something like that reads better in context.



Powder box or powder compact then for 'dressing box' which has no meaning.

Oristar, The woman was arrogant. Not the act of leaving. How can leaving be arrogant? The word arrogant must be used to describe the woman, not the action.

H Roberta, please look at this example:

Mr.Jack and Miss Anne were at it again, and finally Miss Anne left angrily.

In this example, of course it doesn't mean "leaving was angry", it means "Anne was angry", So I thought "she left arrogantly" meant "she was arrogant", not "leaving was arrogant".

Hi Vivien, "good joe" is just a slang used in US. But, of course, well-wisher is fine.

"Good Joe" was American slang, but of the era of the 1940's and 1950's. Most Americans above age 30 would immediately understand it, younger Americans might. It has largely fallen into desuetude, though.

Has it gone to desuetude? Thanks Setanta. Use well-wisher now.

Thanks, Oristar, i did not notice that i'd left the "s" out of desuetude until i'd read your response. I'm rather finicky about editing my posts for misspellings and grammatical errors . . . obsessive, one might say . . .

:wink:

I have a problem with "and let her live in her house" as it seems to imply a long term situation.