can't they were dying 'cus they weren't!

[crisgal]

does anyone else find this odd?
I find it strange that we can't say that someone was so ill, or injured that they were 'dying' if they then go on to survive.

Do you know what I mean?
In a newspaper report, say of someone in a car crash, they would say (if the person subsequently died) that they lay 'dying' while awaiting help.
BUT, if they go on to survive, no matter how near death they were, it will never say that they were dying.
It's as if simply because they lived, and didn't die, then they couldn't have been dying.
But I think they were dying, almost dead, but managed to survive, so why can't we say they were dying?

[atalanta]

Here's an example : if a woman in childbirth haemorrhages really badly, she is dying Unless and Until she gets a transfusion.
She can really be at the very point of death and yet a transfusion will probably save her.

[Quizmonster]

Absolutely, Atalanta.
The language point here does not necessarily have to do with people dying. Imagine the day-shift has started at a car-factory and the engine production line is flowing along but no completed engine has yet reached the end of the line.
Suddenly, the power goes off and everything comes to a halt. It turns out that the company has gone bust and none of today's engines are - is, if you like! - ever produced.
What were these employees doing before the line stopped? Obviously, "Making engines" and that remains the case despite the fact that no engines were actually "made".

[bessie1916]

What about when some one is dying, almost dead, they say they are in a grave condition

[crisgal]

i think they mean grave as in 'serious' bessie!