What is happening outside? There are two people.

[GoldfishLord]

Is it fine to respond with "there are two people." when someone asks, "what is happening outside?"?

 

[Tarheel]

No. That is not an answer to the question.

Abe: What is happening outside?
Bob: Two people are out there arguing.

 

[Piscean]

Incidentally, we use 'fine' in this sense only in affirmative utterances.

It's fine.
Is it fine?
It isn't fine.

 

[GoldfishLord]

A: What is happening outside?
B: There are two people.

This is not an answer to the question.

A: What is happening outside?
B: There are two people waiting outside.

This is an answer to the question.

I cannot understand why "there are two people waiting outside." is an answer to "what is happening outside?"
It is not what is happening. It is a state, not an action.

 

[emsr2d2]

Is it fine OK to respond with "There are two people no full stop here" when someone asks no comma here "What is happening outside?"?

Note my corrections above. You already know why "fine" doesn't work. Remember that complete sentences inside quotation marks must begin with a capital letter. A full stop at the end of a sentence inside quotation marks must be omitted if the sentence outside the quotation marks continues after the last word of the quote.

 

[emsr2d2]

A: What is happening outside?
B: There are two people.

This is not an acceptable/a correct answer to the question.

A: What is happening outside?
B: There are two people waiting outside.

This is an acceptable/a correct answer to the question.

I cannot understand why "There are two people waiting outside no full stop here" is an answer to "What is happening outside?"
It is not what is happening. It is a state, not an action.

Who told you that "There are two people waiting outside" is a natural answer to that question? The only suggestion so far in this thread has been Tarheel's in post #2, in which he used "arguing".

 

[Tarheel]

@GoldfishLord First, you asked a question. Then you answered the question. Then you said you were wrong.

I assure you that waiting is an activity. Although it might not look like you are doing much, if somebody is waiting for a bus he has to stay alert so that when the bus comes it doesn't pass him by. (If that's ever happened to you you know how frustrating it is.)

Note that when a person waits they wait for something.

 

[GoldfishLord]

Is "There are waiting two people outside" an acceptable answer to "What is happening outside?"?

A: What is happening outside?
B: There are two people waiting outside.

 

[Tarheel]

Is "There are waiting two people outside" an acceptable answer to "What is happening outside?"?

It might work if they are waiting for the person who asked the question. Are they? Also, it should be "two people waiting".

A: What is happening outside?
B: There are two people waiting outside.

What are they waiting for?

 

[GoldfishLord]

A: What is happening outside?
B: There are two people waiting for a bus.

This is fine.

A: What is happening outside?
B: Two people exist who are waiting for a bus.

Is this ok?

 

[emsr2d2]

Is "There are waiting two people outside" an acceptable answer to "What is happening outside?"?

No. The word order is ungrammatical.

A: What is happening outside?
B: There are two people waiting outside.

It's OK but it would be better if we knew what they were waiting for.

 

[emsr2d2]

A: What is happening outside?
B: Two people exist who are waiting for a bus.

Is this ok OK/okay?

No. If you use "exist", it means that somewhere in the entire world, there are two people who are waiting for a bus. Of course there are. At any given moment, there are millions of people waiting for a bus.
Stick with "There are two people [who are] waiting for a bus".