Learn English – How would one describe an unpleasant surprise

paraphrasingphrase-request

Let us suppose I asked my friend to do something (e.g. buy me a drink.) However, when I saw what he did in response, I was negatively surprised (e.g. because he brought me a drink that I don't like, etc.). I would like to describe this in a sentence such as the following:

The drink bought by my friend gave me an unpleasant surprise.

Or:

The drink bought by my friend resulted in an unpleasant surprise.

Both these versions are cumbersome. How can I better express this intention?

Best Answer

In OP's exact context, a better phrasing is...

"The drink bought by my friend was an unpleasant surprise"

That's if we assume OP (or his friend) experienced the "unpleasant surprise" immediately upon seeing or tasting the drink. If it was, say, some kind of powerful delayed-action emetic that had no apparent effect until several hours later (when it caused sudden unexpected projectile vomiting or worse), you might perhaps say the drink "led to/caused an unpleasant surprise". But that's a highly contrived context.

Note that bought is past tense buy = purchase, so OP's phrasing is ambiguous in that we don't know who the drink was brought for (or by implication, who got the unpleasant surprise). More natural phrasing (optionally using the past tense of bring = carry/give [to someone]) would be...

"The drink my friend brought/bought me was an unpleasant surprise"

Related Topic