A personal peeve

You can't smile words. You can say them, you can shout, whisper or scream them, but you can't smile or (worse) beam them.

'Yes, it's a nice day,' smiled Roger.

No no no. Just turn it around and you can see how wrong that is.

Roger smiled, 'Yes, it's a nice day.'

If Roger really has to smile, that first sentence should be either

'Yes, it's a nice day.' Roger smiled.

or something like

'Yes, it's a nice day,' said Roger, smiling.

I am just reading a best-seller, and someone has just beamed some words. Aaargh. Words fail me.

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