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  1. The door of the refrigerator being opened by 90 degrees or less is closed automatically if you let go of the door.
  2. The door of the refrigerator that has been opened by 90 degrees or less is closed automatically if you let go of the door.

I would like to know which sounds natural and correct. I think the second may imply as if the door was not able to be closed.

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  • Neither: The refrigerator door closes automatically if you let go of it. There is no need to use the word open, it is implied since you can only let go of an open door and not a closed one.
    – Lambie
    Jun 6, 2018 at 14:05
  • I edited my question and added "by 90 degrees or less". How about my new question?
    – rama9
    Jun 6, 2018 at 14:21
  • I wonder if you understood me: If you say: "let it go", that means it is already open and, therefore, you do not need to use the word open or opened. Also, it's refrigerator door, there is no need to be long winded and say: the door of the refrigerator.
    – Lambie
    Jun 6, 2018 at 14:27
  • The fact that the automatic door closure only works with the door open 90° or less is obviously both "relevant" and relatively "non-predictable". So I think it would be wise to explicitly call attention to this (and thereby help guide the reader towards a type of design feature he may not be familiar with) by rephrasing in such a way as to include the all-important word if.
    – FumbleFingers
    Jun 6, 2018 at 16:06

2 Answers 2

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The first is ungrammatical. Just strike being and by and it's OK.

The second is grammatical.

You want to describe the actual achieved state of the door which triggers the automatic close.

The refrigerator door (when) open|opened to 90 degrees or less closes automatically when you let go of it.

I think open is preferable to opened here.

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  • Is the first sentence really ungrammatical? It's so awkward that it certainly sounds like there must be some error, and I agree that OP should not use it, but if you parse it carefully it does make a certain kind of sense.
    – Andrew
    Jun 6, 2018 at 15:31
  • being opened by 90 degrees or less strikes me as ungrammatical. I meant to add by when suggesting the edit.
    – Tᴚoɯɐuo
    Jun 6, 2018 at 15:31
  • Wouldn't it be right to use the preposition at before 90 degrees?
    – Victor B.
    Jun 6, 2018 at 15:39
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    @Rompey: The door itself may be at 90 degrees but it is open to 90 degrees.
    – Tᴚoɯɐuo
    Jun 6, 2018 at 15:42
  • I would prefer "The refrigerator door closes automatically if it's open less than 90 degrees".
    – Acccumulation
    Jun 6, 2018 at 15:54
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This would read better if you simply said:

If you open the refrigerator door less than 90 degrees, it will automatically close when you let it go.

Using the expression "90 degrees or less" may be factually correct, but it is unnecessarily precise; using "less than 90 degrees" is sufficient. No-one is going to check that the door automatically closes at 89 degrees, but does not do so at 90 degrees.

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