Understood "to be"?

Question

Is it correct to write, "We do not want our children growing up in a big city" ?  I realize that the infinitive "to grow" is the more elegant solution, but the -ing form does not sound wrong to me.  If it is OK, what is "growing"  in this case?  Is it a participle (used as an adjective) or is it part of an infinitive form in which the "to be" is understood?

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

This one's not so easy because the issue isn't where it looks like it is... "Growing" is a gerund and is properly used for a gerund: it's a verb form with the participle-like ending, "ing," and used as a noun. (Similar to "Sailing is my favorite thing.")

"Up" is what makes this structure funny... and I would say that's an idiom -- one in which "growing up" is sort of a complex gerund kind of a form of the infinitive phrase, "to grow up". If we can accept idiom as grammatically acceptable, then the sentence is correct as written.

It's interesting, too, that there's a good reason to use the idiom rather than the more formal form -- the formal, highly proper way shifts the emphasis from the location (in the city) to the action (growing up)... leaving us open to the interpretation that because the child is in the city, we don't want him to grow up rather than the intended meaning that because the child is growing up, we don't want him to be in the city. Gosh, I love redundancy!!!

Regards

AL

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousIs it correct to write, "We do not want our children growing up in a big city"

It is.

Anonymouswhat is "growing" in this case? ... is it part of an infinitive form in which the "to be" is understood?

That's a possible interpretation.

The following might also belong in the category of "missing to be":

We don't want our problems discussed in public.

They don't want teenagers hanging around their shops; it's bad for business.

The farmer put up a fence because he didn't like the goats getting into the corn.

The chairman of the committee declared the matter closed.

In the case of the -ing forms, you can also make an analysis in terms of gerunds, but then I think you'd have to convince people that "growing up" is very much like a noun. Are "to want a new car" and "to want growing up" sufficiently alike to warrant calling "growing up" a noun-like entity, i.e., a gerund? I don't have an answer. Opinions may vary.

CJ

Understood "to be"?

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