Korean Job Discussion Forums

[SpiralStaircase]

Context
About 20 to 40 young are (born alive or born live), encased in a thin membrane that the mother scorpion helps break open.

Okay grammar Nazis:
Which and why?

[nobbyken]

[Omkara]

To Live; To Alive

To Be Live; To Be Alive

"Live" can be either a verb or an adjective, whereas "Alive" cannot.

So, either is okay in this case. They are both adjectives.

[Privateer]

Bearing live young means as opposed to laying eggs.

Born alive is the opposite of born dead or stillborn.

It's not a grammar issue at all: it's a difference in usage and application.

[I-am-me]

Reminds me of that 80's song.."Born to be alive"

[Omkara]

It is both a grammar issue and a usage issue. The post I put up earlier points to the grammatical issue. The difference in the grammatical values makes the judgment of the sentence a little more complex.

But I agree with the other poster who points out that it is not a grammatical use--in this particular sentence. The words have some different applications. In some cases, both are correct. In others, one or the other is correct.

[warren pease]

Like others have said, both are essentially gramaticaly acceptable. However, "born alive" is redundant without any additional information or allusions to them being born dead.

"born live" is more specific as it implies a birth rather than a hatching.

Even still the sentence is awkward at best. I think the correct way to phrase the sentence, assuming that "live or alive" is required, is as follows:

About 20 to 40 are born live, and encased in a thin membrane that the mother scorpion helps to break open.

[The Grumpy Senator]

I have always used "live born" in my science classes, as in: "About 20 to 40 young are live born, encased......"

[JustJohn]

If you really must string all that together I suggest the following:

[bacasper]

Both are correct.