GRAMMAR QUESTION ( LIVING )

Question

I saw the following sentence in a text book.

Four out of five elderly people living in this country are competely self-sufficient.

It says that the word living is used to modify people.

But a teacher told me that there is no such sentence like "Someone is living in..."

So...why does it use living but not live ?

In my opinion.I suppose that the sentence should be...

Four out of five elderly people (that) live in this country are competely self-sufficient.

How would you explain that??

Which grammar rule is that?

Ticce · Accepted Answer

This is Participle 1

Yoong Liat · Answer

Four out of five elderly people living in this country are competely self-sufficient. (This sentence is correct. Did your teacher say that it is incorrect?)

MatthewS · Answer

It's not a school text book ,so I didn't ask my teacher.

But...is it correct to say a sentence like " I am living in New York. " ??

What my question is I thought a "Participle" that is used in a sentence is omitted from an adj.clause.

Like " Four out of five elderly people are living in this country are competely self-sufficient."

But one of my teachers told me that there is no sentence like" someone is living in somewhere"

So, I was wondering if it's proper to use the word "living" to modify people.

I know I ask lots~~~~~of questions, but.....please help me.

I'm kind of seriously confused..........

Yoong Liat · Answer

MatthewSBut...is it correct to say a sentence like " I am living in New York. " ? (The sentence is correct. The more common usage is "I live in New York.")

What my question is I thought a "Participle" that is used in a sentence is omitted from an adj.clause.

Like " Four out of five elderly people are living in this country are competely self-sufficient." (The sentence is correct.)

But one of my teachers told me that there is no sentence like" someone is living in somewhere" (Not true. I believe your teacher thinks that it should be "I live in New York", which is the more common usage.)

So, I was wondering if it's proper to use the word "living" to modify people.

I know I ask lots~~~~~of questions, but.....please help me.

I'm kind of seriously confused..........

Cool Breeze · Answer

MatthewSFour out of five elderly people living in this country are competely self-sufficient.

There is a relative clause equivalent in your sentence. The present participle living is used instead of who/that live. This is the most common way to form relative clause equivalents:

The person knowing the answer said nothing. (= The person who knew the answer...)
The man driving the car is a friend of mine. (= The man who is driving the car...)

There are other structures. After some words the infinitive is used instead of a participle:

Roger Bannister was the first man to run the mile in less than four minutes.
The last man to arrive said nothing. (= The last man that/who arrived...)

And a past participle is needed in passive relative clause equivalents:
The letters written in the morning have been mailed. (= The letters that/which were written...)

CB

Goodman · Answer

MatthewS
I saw the following sentence in a text book.

Four out of five elderly people living in this country are competely self-sufficient.

It says that the word living is used to modify people.

But a teacher told me that there is no such sentence like "Someone is living in..."

So...why does it use living but not live ?

In my opinion.I suppose that the sentence should be...

Four out of five elderly people (that) live in this country are competely self-sufficient.

How would you explain that??

Which grammar rule is that?

There are always different approaches for writing a sentence.

<<Four out of five elderly people living in this country are completely self-sufficient.>>

First, we can use the compound approach “ Four out of five elderly people who are living in this country are completely self-sufficient. This sentence is formed by 2 complete sentences. However, the pink one is a relative clause which provides relative information to the context.

Then there is adverbial/ participle phrase which doesn’t contain a verb but provides descriptive information to the sentence. Your sentence is a good example.

Many Asian immigrants who come / coming to this country with hopes and dreams have found them because of their hard working spirits.

Red –relative clause

Green- participle phrase

MatthewS · Answer

Thanks,

thanks,

and....thanks!!!

Neeraj Jain · Answer

I agree with others that your sentence is  correct.

GRAMMAR QUESTION ( LIVING )

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