to live or to living

[gauri_agr]

hi All,

Which sentence is correct

1. Breathing is important to living.
2. Breathing is important to live

live is a verb and living is an adjective and according to me #2 is correct the same way as " I want to go" or " I am going to do my work"

But it seems #1 is correct. Could any one explain to me the reason.

thanks
Gauri

[freezeframe]

hi All,

Which sentence is correct

1. Breathing is important to living.
2. Breathing is important to live

live is a verb and living is an adjective and according to me #2 is correct the same way as " I want to go" or " I am going to do my work"

But it seems #1 is correct. Could any one explain to me the reason.

thanks
Gauri

What are you trying to say? Both of your sentences are a little odd. Breathing is not just "important to living" but is one of the necessary conditions for staying alive.

[gauri_agr]

Thanks for your reply. I was speaking these sentences for a long time :)

[euncu]

***neither a teacher nor a native-speaker***

There is nothing in the world like a simple word called "the definite article", so your first sentence will be okay when you introduce "the";

Breathing is important to the living.

But when I say it will be okay, it solely denotes its grammatical correctness, it needs not to be correct semantically or scientifically. And "the living" here has a different meaning now. It is a collective noun.

Instead of saying "important" you can say "essential". It'll be ok then unless you include anaerobe organisms in the definition of "the living". Now, let's take a look at the last version of your sentence;

Breathing is essential to the living.

And another point I'd like to mention is that the word "to" not just makes an infinitive out of a bare verb, but it is also a preposition. Sometimes, some learners can mix these two "to".

[gauri_agr]

thanks Euncu for your explanation.

[Raymott]

***neither a teacher nor a native-speaker***

There is nothing in the world like a simple word called "the definite article", so your first sentence will be okay when you introduce "the";

Breathing is important to the living.

But when I say it will be okay, it solely denotes its grammatical correctness, it needs not to be correct semantically or scientifically. And "the living" here has a different meaning now. It is a collective noun.

Instead of saying "important" you can say "essential". It'll be ok then unless you include anaerobe organisms in the definition of "the living". Now, let's take a look at the last version of your sentence;

Breathing is essential to the living.

And another point I'd like to mention is that the word "to" not just makes an infinitive out of a bare verb, but it is also a preposition. Sometimes, some learners can mix these two "to".

You can use "the". It changes the meaning though.
"Living" is a gerund. "Breathing is important to living." is a good sentence, as is "Breathing is necessary to live" = "To live, it's necessary to breathe"

Consider:
"Water is necessary for swimming." (I've changed the preposition; the point is the same)
"Breathing is necessary for living."
"Food is necessary for eating."

[Soup]

hi All,

Which sentence is correct

1. Breathing is important to living.
2. Breathing is important to live

live is a verb and living is an adjective and according to me #2 is correct the same way as " I want to go" or " I am going to do my work"

But it seems #1 is correct. Could any one explain to me the reason.

thanks
Gauri

Both are correct.

The to-phrase in #2 (to live) is different from the to-phrase in "I want to go." The former (to live) is short for in order to:

• Breathing is important (in order) to live.
• In order to live, breathing is important.

As for #1 (to living), the word living is a noun, a gerund (not an adjective), and it fits the phrase important to <someone or something>:

• Breathing is important to living.

[gauri_agr]

thanks every one. I generally get the answer of all my queries so quickly that I feel to post my questions here.