Is 'I know the girl dying yesterday.' grammatical?

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c2k5

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Dec 19, 2021
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Chinese
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Someone told me that 'I know the girl wearing black yesterday.' (reduced from 'I know the girl who was wearing black yesterday.') is grammatical, but 'I know the girl dying yesterday.' (reduced from 'I know the girl who died yesterday.') is not grammatical.
Is that true, and is there a reason in it?
 
You've partly answered your own question. In the first, "wearing black" is a shortened form of "who was wearing black", but "dying" can't be a shortened form of "who died". The tenses don't match.
"I know the girl dying yesterday" is a very unlikely shortened form of "I know the girl who was dying yesterday".
 
Two things. One, say "Is there a reason for it?" Two, there is never going to be a reason for you to use that construction.
 
You've partly answered your own question. In the first, "wearing black" is a shortened form of "who was wearing black", but "dying" can't be a shortened form of "who died". The tenses don't match.
"I know the girl dying yesterday" is a very unlikely shortened form of "I know the girl who was dying yesterday".

And she's either, today, still dying or already dead. So the sentence is unlikely.
 
"I know the girl dying yesterday" is a very unlikely shortened form of "I know the girl who was dying yesterday".
And she's either, today, still dying or already dead. So the sentence is unlikely.
Thanks you.
Could ''I know the girl crying yesterday.' and 'I know the thing happening yesterday.' be possible?
 
You won’t hear native speakers using sentences like those.
 
I think you could use the second if the things are still going on. We would need more context.
 
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