turning heads ... and making them a cut above rest

[Russula]

Hello,

may I have a specific question?

I read an article about four boys (identically looking twins) whose mother decided to have them haircut in a numerical style. So now they could be easily distinguished by the number on their heads. At the end of this article there was the following sentence:

"With the numerically hair styled brothers turning heads in their hometown Shenzen and making them a cut above rest of their fellow pupils at school."

My problem is that I just can't understand the wording of this sentence. What is the predicate here and where is its subject? Or maybe, could somebody rewrite this sentence in a more intelligible way, please? (I seemingly know the meaning but I need to be able to explaing the wording of this sentence to my pupils. But I am quite confused here.)

Thank you.

 

[dreamlike]

There's something off about this sentence. As it stands, it's incorrect to me. I'd write:
"With the numerically hair styled brothers are turning heads in their hometown Shenzen and that's what makes them a cut above the rest of their fellow pupils at school."


Please wait for native speakers to conribute, I can't be sure about that.

What I'm sure about, though, is that the sentence means that this unusual hairstyle surprises people in their home town and makes the boys 'better' than their schoolmates.
Is that so... poor children.

 

[Loob]

Hello Russula

I found your extract on a website called 'News in Levels: Easy English reading and listening': was that your source (or something like it)?

If so, then the text seems to have been constructed so as to teach learners particular idiomatic expressions, like cut above the rest.

Unfortunately, there are several mistakes in the text. The 'sentence' you quote is one of them. As dreamlike says, it isn't actually a sentence - and it would need more than a little re-writing to turn it into one.

 

[Russula]

Thank you very much.

This is what I thought too. Well, it seems by your words that those articles are not re-written by the native. What a pity. I wanted to use them in my lessons but now I must change my mind.