People using the programs

[Rachel Adams]

What part of speech is "using" in this sentence?

"The biggest danger to security is the people using the programs."

It's from the book Reading Challenge by Casey Mararcher and Andrea Janzen.

 

[Tarheel]

Well, "the people using the programs" is a noun phrase. As for "using", I'm not sure what part of speech that is. However, that does not impair my understanding of the sentence.

 

[5jj]

It's a verb, the direct object of which is 'the programs'.

 

[Barque]

is the people using the programs

If it makes it easier, there's an implied "who are" after "people".

It sounds more natural without the "who are", especially because there's an "is" before "the people".