A perplexing sentence

Question

I used to live in a small fishing village on the....... of the Red Sea.

a) shore b) coast c) beach

I think that both 'a' & 'b' are OK. The difference between them is not clear to me.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Omar AhmedI think that both 'a' & 'b' are OK.

That sounds good to me.

Omar AhmedThe difference between them is not clear to me.

Join the club.

Generally speaking, as I understand the usage of those words, a coast is the area of land at the edge of a very large body of water, usually an ocean, including much of the land fairly far from the water. The United States has three coasts, for example — the East Coast, the West Coast, and the Gulf Coast. I live more than 30 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean, but I say that I live on the West Coast.

A shore is a much smaller strip of land at the edge of any natural body of water. If you start at the edge of the water and walk inland just a little (maybe just a quarter of a mile or less), you are no longer on the shore. Even though the Great Lakes are very large, I don't think I've ever heard "coast" applied to the water's edge in those cases. The Great Lakes have shores, not coasts, as far as I know.

I can't say I know whether the Red Sea is regarded as having a coast, but I would not say 'coast' for that situation unless the village in your sentence was quite far from the water. Yet, it's a fishing village, so it's probably on the shore.

It will be interesting to see what others say about 'coast' and 'shore'.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

Omar AhmedI think that both 'a' & 'b' are OK.

Nope. It's "shore". Egypt has a coast. The Red Sea has a shore. You have to specify which when you say coast.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Generally, the coast of a country is its boundary where the land meets the ocean.

Shore is used for smaller bodies of water like lakes, broad rivers, and seas.

A perplexing sentence

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