has been homeless sleeping

[Maybo]

I don't understand why "homeless" could be placed before "sleeping" in the following sentence.

Natasha is 22 year-old and has been homeless sleeping rough in London for 4 years.

Should I understand the sentence the following way?

Natasha is 22 year-old and has been homeless and has been sleeping rough in London for 4 years.


The sentence is a title of a YouTube video.
https://youtu.be/6TLVgwoqhoc

 

[emsr2d2]

I don't understand why "homeless" [strike]could be[/strike] was placed before "sleeping" in the following sentence.

Natasha is 22 years no hyphen here old and has been homeless and sleeping rough in London for [STRIKE]4[/STRIKE] four years.

Should I understand the sentence the following way?

Natasha is 22 years no hyphen here old and has been homeless and has been sleeping rough in London for [STRIKE]4[/STRIKE] four years.

The sentence is [STRIKE]a[/STRIKE] the title of a YouTube video.
https://youtu.be/6TLVgwoqhoc

It's an error. The writer should have used either "... has been homeless and [has been] sleeping rough ..." or "is 22 years old, homeless, and has been sleeping rough ...". Note my other corrections above.

 

[Maybo]

I found I made a typo. The original is "22 years-old". It's still wrong though, with that hyphen.

 

[emsr2d2]

Yes, it's wrong with that hyphen. There are three options:

1. She is 22 years old and has been ...
2. She is a 22-year-old who has been ...
3. She is a 22-year-old woman who has been ...

 

[GoesStation]

The rule is that the component words of a compound adjective should be hyphenated. Native speakers very frequently get this wrong; they either hyphenate any group of words which might need it in some context, or neglect to hyphenate when it's required. The former error is particularly common.

 

[tedmc]

I thought the original "...homeless sleeping..." is okay. They are not meant to be read together with "sleeping..." serving as a participle.

 

[GoesStation]

I thought the original "...homeless sleeping..." is okay. They are not meaning to be read together with "sleeping..." serving as a participle.

Those aren't the words I was referring to in #5.

 

[tedmc]

Those aren't the words I was referring to in #5.

Sorry, I was referring to Post No.1.

 

[Maybo]

They are not meant to be read together with "sleeping..." serving as a participle.

I don't understand. How should I read them separately?

 

[emsr2d2]

Without a comma, you can't read them separately. As written, it's wrong. The writer could have used:

Natasha is a 22-year-old who has been homeless, sleeping rough in London for four years.

However, that changes the meaning because the clause before the comma now means that she is no longer homeless. The clause after the comma expresses that, during the unspecified length of time that she was homeless, she slept rough in London for four years.

 

[tedmc]

Natasha is a 22-year-old who has been homeless, sleeping rough in London for four years.

Can the comma be omitted?

 

[Rover_KE]

No.

 

[Maybo]

I heard somebody say "I'm not comfortable talking about him."

If I cut the sample sentence down to "She has been homeless sleeping rough in London for four years", is it correct?

 

[emsr2d2]

No.