line up

[herbivorie]

When I got into the line, there were about 10 people lined up.

In the above sentence, is “lined” an intransitive verb or a transitive verb?

A friend of mine, who is American, says it’s a verb and it’s just past tense.
But I thought, if it’s an intransitive verb, it should be past perfect tense and “who had” is missing before “lined up”. (This “who had” can’t be omitted, can it?)
If it’s a transitive verb… I’m not sure.

Please help me understand this part of the sentence.

 

[Matthew Wai]

'There were about 10 people lining up' should be grammatical.

Not a teacher.

 

[tzfujimino]

Hello, herbivorie.:-D
I agree with Matthew.
However, it is possible that 'who' is dropped in that construction - there were about 10 people who lined up.
Michael Swan, in his Practical English Usage Third Edition (on page 486) writes:

omission of subject
In a very informal style, a subject relative pronoun is sometimes dropped after there is.

There's a man at the door wants to talk to you.

If you'd like to read previous discussions on this, please see here.
Neither Mike nor Raymott likes the construction.

 

[SoothingDave]

'There were about 10 people lining up' should be grammatical.

Not a teacher.

There is a difference. People who have lined up have formed a line. I wouldn't say that they continue to be "lining."

 

[tzfujimino]

There is a difference. People who have lined up have formed a line. I wouldn't say that they continue to be "lining."

Hello, Dave.:-D

Do you think 'there were about 10 people lined up' is natural?

 

[SoothingDave]

Hello, Dave.:-D

Do you think 'there were about 10 people lined up' is natural?

Absolutely.

Compare "There were ten cups on the table filled with tea."

 

[tzfujimino]

Absolutely.

Compare "There were ten cups on the table filled with tea."

Thank you, Dave.:-D
Your example can be interpreted as 'Ten cups on the table were filled with tea', which is in the passive.
How about the original? Would 'About ten people were lined up' work?

 

[Matthew Wai]

People who have lined up have formed a line. I wouldn't say that they continue to be "lining."

'line up: to stand in a line or row'── quoted from http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/line_2#line_2__41
Can 'lining up' mean 'standing in a line' according to it?

Would 'About ten people were lined up' work?

If the above definition is correct, it should be 'were lining up'.

Not a teacher.

 

[SoothingDave]

Thank you, Dave.:-D
Your example can be interpreted as 'Ten cups on the table were filled with tea', which is in the passive.
How about the original? Would 'About ten people were lined up' work?

There were about ten people lined up = About ten people were lined up.

 

[Matthew Wai]

There were about ten people lined up = There were about ten people who had been lined up by someone else.
There were about ten people lining up = There were about ten people who were standing in a line.

Are they correct?

 

[SoothingDave]

There were about ten people lined up = There were about ten people who had been lined up by someone else.
There were about ten people lining up = There were about ten people who were standing in a line.

Are they correct?

No.

Being "lined up" does not require some outside agent. If ten people show up and spontaneously form a line, they are now "lined up."

"Lining up" is progressive, indicating continuing action. I do not see that the action of "lining up" is continuous. (Others may disagree.) If ten people show up and then form a line, they are then done. They are in a line. They are lined up. Only during the brief period where a cluster transforms into a line can they be said to be "lining."

Now, if there is a long line, like people waiting all night to buy an iPhone or concert tickets, one might say that people have been "lining up" all night long. But that, to me, indicated that the line continues to grow. The people who are first and second in the line don't continue to be "lining," but the line continues to grow as the 100th and 101st people line up.

 

[Rover_KE]

When I got into the line, there were about 10 people lined up.

Let's not forget that BE speakers favour the words 'queue' and 'queueing'.

I'd say 'When I joined the queue, there were about 10 people in front of me'.

 

[Matthew Wai]

Being "lined up" does not require some outside agent.

'He lined us all up in the corridor.'── quoted from http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/line_2
Can 'he' be regarded as an outside agent?

I do not see that the action of "lining up" is continuous.

'Line up ... stand in a row or line'── quoted from the same page.
Can 'lining up' mean 'standing in a line'?

 

[Roman55]

Let's not forget that BE speakers favour the words 'queue' and 'queueing'.

I'd say 'When I joined the queue, there were about 10 people in front of me'.

I am not a teacher.

In BrE, if you were to say that there were 10 people lined up you would be describing how they are positioned. If they are waiting for something, like a bus or to get into a cinema, they would be queueing. And we do love a nice orderly queue!

 

[herbivorie]

I'm afraid no one has answered my question...

[To native English speakers]
Is "lined" being used as a transitive verb? If it's transitive and in passive voice, it makes sense.

 

[SoothingDave]

I'm afraid no one has answered my question...

[To native English speakers]
Is "lined" being used as a transitive verb? If it's transitive and in passive voice, it makes sense.

It's not a verb. It's a predicate adjective. "There were about 10 people lined up" = "There were about 10 people [who were] lined up."

"Lined up" is a past participle acting as a predicate adjective. It's not passive. The people are not the object. There is not some other party that is the subject that made them line up.