...-ing on the breadline

Hello Demi

Yes, those two verbs can be used with 'on the breadline'; you might also find 'beg'.

MrP

I guess I have employed the correct idiom, which sounds simpler and better:

'She is typical of today's one-parent single-income families LIVING FROM HAND TO MOUTH.'

Yes but be careful, to me this implies that all one-parent single-income families are on the breadline/live from hand to mouth, which is clearly not the case.

It might be an interesting and useful idiom, but...this was a gap-filling exercise...

Go for "existing" then

And, er, what about 'being' in this particular sentence?

I don't think "being" gives quite the same impression. I think you need something more emphatic.

existing, living, getting by, struggling, subsisting,

But would you consider 'being' in that example a 'mistake' or 'just' worse style?

The continuous form of 'be' (being) is usually used to talk about actions and behaviour, e.g "She is being careful with money", "she was being foolish when she thought of buying new shoes".

If you wished to use 'being' in this sentence, then it would be better to use the form:

"Being on the breadline and struggling to make ends meet, she is typical of today's one-parent single

Can anyone paraphrase the sentence such that it uses the idiom - 'living (or sth else) from hand to mouth'.