Know Your English (May 2001)

Know your English

Is it OK to say ``The whole building shivers when a train goes past''?

There is nothing wrong with the sentence from the point of view of grammar. It is possible to have such a sentence in children's stories.
But the fact remains that the word ``shiver'' is normally used with living things; animals and people. Buildings do not shiver, they merely ``shake'', or ``rattle'' - unless of course in the story that you are writing, the building is a living thing!
So, if you are merely writing a story for the newspaper, you would be better off saying the building ``shakes'', rather than ``shivers''.

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``Never hit a man with glasses; hit him with your fist.'' - Anon


Source:
The Hindu daily, Tuesday, May 29, 2001