What does 一人 mean in a sentence like this?

Question

こちらは負傷者を一人抱えている

"We are carrying a wounded person alone"

or is it

"We have one wounded person?"

In the second case why 一人 is placed after 負傷者

Answer 1

The latter, and there is basically no confusion (The first interpretation is not entirely impossible, but...).

To understand the strucutre, consider

こちらは負傷者をたくさん抱えている (We have many wounded person).

こちらは負傷者を n人 抱えている

I guess the placement has some freedom because the ひとり here works as an adverb.

You are right in that

こちらは一人負傷者を抱えている

is similar in meaning.

Your confusion can also be justified, as in:

（太郎は）悩みを一人[で]抱えている (He is carrying his worries alone = He doesn't open up).

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I really can't seem to come up with a compelling and clear reason why the second interpretation is the only choice. Probably:

• こちらは…を抱えている structure is mostly used in situation where "we" are working as a team: "This side, we, have..." so carrying somebody alone doesn't fit
• （負傷者を）抱える in this case is more fugirative than physically carrying somebody
• If Alice and Bob are together taking care of a wounded person but you are carrying a wounded person only by yourself, you would say "こちらは負傷者を一人で抱えている"