3336
> 彼女は表情が生き生きとしておりとてもかわいい。

was translated awkwardly on ALC as

> She is very pretty for the liveliness of her expression.

Which おり is this? I think I know it from the polite しております but is it here
wielding more expressive meaning?
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-09-30T01:16:47.877
3334
2011-12-29T05:35:58.113
2011-12-29T05:35:58.113
706
question
grammar politeness expressions て-form
Does anyone know which おり this is?
It replaces the verb stem `い` (of `いる`) for morpho-phonological reason.

The construction in your example uses a verb stem to continue another
predicate after it as in:

> よく食べ、よく寝る。 [Vowel verb stem 'tabe']  
>  年月が経ち、忘れてしまった。 [Consonant verb stem 'tat' followed by the epenthetic vowel
> 'i']

When you use the verb `いる` in this construction, its stem 'i' is very short
that some people don't like it, and may even consider it ungrammatical:

> 生き生きとしてい、とてもかわいい。

Those people replace `i` with a longer verb stem `or`, which can be considered
in present Japanese a variant of this verb stem:

> 生き生きとしており、とてもかわいい。 [Consonant verb stem 'or' followed by the epenthetic
> vowel 'i']

When it is followed by an affix, the shortness of the stem is compensated by
the affix, and it does not sound bad, so both forms are allowed:

> ...しています。  
>  ...しております。

**Translation**

The translation that you got is a good one for a literal translation.

> 彼女は表情が生き生きとしており、とてもかわいい。  
>  'As for her, the facial expressions being lively, she is very pretty.'
> (Literal)  
>  'Her facial expressions are lively, which make her very pretty.' (Natural)
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-09-30T01:39:25.123
3335
2011-09-30T03:02:13.383
2011-09-30T03:02:13.383
3334
answer
Let me have a go at this:

>   * 彼女{かのじょ}は: She/Her (establishing context)
>
>   * 表情{ひょうじょう}が: expression (with nominative case marker)
>
>   * 生{い}き生{い}き: vividly, lively
>
>   * して: Verb conjunctive form of する
>
>   * おり： 連用形 of **居る{おる}** (To be/exist for animate things) This should be
> the verb you're looking for
>
>   * とても: intensifier
>
>   * かわいい： pretty
>
>

  1. The verb is 生き生きとして居る, the subject is 表情. Combining them yields "There is a vivid/lively expression"

  2. Context is 彼女

Combining 1. and 2. yields "For her, there is a vivid lively expression"

Now put the verb in 連用形 to get:

> 3.`彼女は表情が生き生きとしており`

**One of the uses of the 連用形 is to join up several sentences as subphrases
into a large continuous sentence.** *

One sentence has been established, which is in 3.`彼女は表情が生き生きとしており`

The other sentence is `とてもかわいい` ((She) is very pretty)

Combining them yields "She has a lively expression, she is very pretty"

* * *

EDIT: Regarding your comment on trying to introduce a "because" nuance.

You can use the て-form of the verb to introduce an implicit sequence of
events. (Weak causal relation)(If you want a stronger causal relation, use から)

See [Verb Grammar - The Verb Conjunctive
Form](http://www.nihongoresources.com/language/lessons/lesson-03/lesson.html)(You
have to scroll down a little bit)

The difference between linking sentences with て-form and linking with 連用形 is
that there is no implicit sequence of events when linking with 連用形.

* * *

*Extracted from [nihongoresources](http://www.nihongoresources.com/language/lessons/lesson-03/lesson.html#grammarv):

> One of the uses of the 連用形 is to join up several sentences as subphrases
> into a large continuous (which is what 連用 means) sentence, similar to how in
> English for instance you would join up two sentences by putting a comma
> between them and if necessary changing the phrasing on the first sentence
> just a tiny bit. If we look at an example you might get an idea of how this
> works:
>
> 日本語： 花が咲く。 English: Flowers bloom.
>
> 日本語： 鳥が鳴く English: Birds are chirping..
>
> 日本語： 春が来た。 English: Spring has come.
>
> We can combine these into a single sentence:
>
> 日本語： 花が咲き鳥が鳴き春が来た。 English: Flowers bloom, birds are chirping; spring has
> come.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-09-30T01:45:45.463
3336
2011-09-30T03:52:12.537
2011-09-30T03:52:12.537
542
542
3334
answer