Olga_L
existing VS exsistent Hello, my question is whether I can use the word "existent" instead of "existing" in a sentence like "It's important to keep existing customers". If not then could you explain the difference between the two words? Thanks.* existent Sorry for the typo
Feb 5, 2012 6:37 PM
Answers · 4
1
No.existent can be used in sentence where the object is not yet present while existing is in continuous tense. Example: "His name is non-existent in the list of our company's customers.Hence he shouldn't be allowed in that party. "
February 5, 2012
Olga_L, Existent is an adjective. Existing is a past participle used as an adjective. They are synonyms and interchangeable. The word existent is more likely to be used in the combination form "non-existent customers", or "non-existent voters". In the positive form you are more likely to come across "existing customers" or "existing voters", etc. There is a slight difference betweent the two. The "existing customers" may refer to the customers you have now, or to potential customers. The "existent customers" is more likely to refer to the the actual customers you have now.
February 6, 2012
In the sentence you used existing customers thats right it means real customers
February 5, 2012
triky question, technically you can, the difference between the two if of usage and derivation but apart from that there isn't a grammatical difference, though someone might say so in some self arrogant grammar book. existing is the regular formation of present participle, where existent is from the latin present participle coming to the language as an adjective through french. the latter is mainly for predicative usage and would feel quite odd in the proposed sentence because of scarcity of use and the plural form of customers.
February 5, 2012
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