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I have been asked to identify which word is incorrect. There are 4 choices- a,b,c, and d. The correct answer is "housing", but I don't know why. Could you please explain to me why "housing" is incorrect in this sentence.

Troops housing in Fort Bliss, Texas, train to operate aircraft equipment and artillery.

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    First of all, what are your thoughts on that? Why do you think housing as used in your sentence is correct/incorrect?
    – Michael Rybkin
    Commented May 20, 2018 at 3:24
  • I think "housing" could be " who house" , an sobordinate clause .
    – Kate Nguyen
    Commented May 20, 2018 at 3:30
  • Without more context, I'd say it should be 'housed'... but troops aren't housed, they're billeted.
    – DoneWithThis.
    Commented May 20, 2018 at 6:12

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Why is "housing" incorrect in this sentence?

Because the verb "to house" has an active meaning "to put into a house", or "to give shelter to".

However the troops were not actively housing someone else. Rather, they were on the receiving end of the housing. Therefore a passive construction should be used such as "are housed". In this particular case the options are: "being housed" or just "housed".

Consider the difference between "they are fed" which is passive, and "they feed (the cats, etc)." which is active.

BTW - "stationed" might be a better word choice.

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  • I'm not really sure this fully gets the 'correct answer' across; though the reasoning looks sound enough to me [I'm no grammarian]. However, "Troops are housed in Fort Bliss, Texas, train to..." doesn't work for me.
    – DoneWithThis.
    Commented May 21, 2018 at 5:35
  • @Tetsujin , edited
    – Sam
    Commented May 21, 2018 at 7:16
  • Cool. ahh, 'stationed'... yeah. I'm UKEng so my first thought was 'billeted' for military personnel, but 'stationed' would work too.
    – DoneWithThis.
    Commented May 21, 2018 at 7:26

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