In my textbook there's an exercise in which I must decide if a sentence is correct. There's this: 在客厅里坐着一位老人. In the answers they say it's incorrect because "zai4" shouldn't be there. Is it really a mistake? I always thought "zai4" was optional in sentences like (zai4) + somewhere + li3/ shang4/ xia4/ zuo3 bian/ you4 bian/ qian2/ hou4.
1 Answer
在客厅里坐着一位老人.
The 在 is redundant because of the 里, as 客厅里 already says "In the living room..." and adding the 在 would be saying "in the living room" twice.
So, 在客厅里坐着一位老人 would be saying -- "At the living room in which sits an old man"
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