78553
By now, I know that motion verbs (行く, 来る, 歩く, 走る, etc...) can take the
particle を to indicate something being traversed (going "through" something).
There are already plenty of answers regarding this topic
([this](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/3243/making-sense-of-
transitive-usage-
of-%E8%A1%8C%E3%81%8F-and-%E6%9D%A5%E3%82%8B-%E3%82%92%E8%A1%8C%E3%81%8F-and-%E3%82%92%E6%9D%A5%E3%82%8B)
was the best I found so far).

With this in consideration, I translated

> 博士たちは水際を歩いた。

as

> The group walked through the water's edge.

However, I've seen other people translating it as

> The group walked by the water.

which actually sounds more accurate.

Is this correct? If so, how does this meaning of を relates with the idea of
traversing something (like the examples provided in linked post)?
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2020-07-10T20:39:01.140
78510
2020-07-13T02:10:37.150
32479
question
translation nuances particle-を
Meaning of を in 博士たちは水際を歩いた。
It's gonna depend heavily on the context, but it could mean a few things:

> The others walked along the shore...

If everyone was for example at the beach but still on the dry part, i.e. they
wouldn't be getting their feet wet from the tides coming in. Alternatively, if
they were walking along the edge of a lake.

> The others walked on the shore...

If everyone was near the sea and they were walking on the wet part of the
beach.

> The others walked by the water...

For smaller and artifical bodies of water that don't generally overflow out of
their bounds, such as lakes, ponds or swimming pools.
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2020-07-11T00:49:58.180
78517
2020-07-11T00:49:58.180
39516
78510
answer
水際 vaguely refers to the area near the coast, the area that contains both A
and B.

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/c3lBhm.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/c3lBhm.jpg)

People usually don't want to get wet, so your sentence usually means they
walked through the B area, and the use of **を** is perfectly natural. If the
sentence were something like 博士達の船は水際で魚を捕っていた, then it would refer to the A
area.
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2020-07-13T02:10:37.150
78553
2020-07-13T02:10:37.150
5010
78510
answer