way / cost / standard / quality of life / living

[ibex]

Hi,

we just did a text in school and have to learn the following expressions now:
* quality of life = how good your life is (independent of money or possessions)
* way of life = your lifestyle
* standard of living = level of comfort and wealth
* cost of living= the price of things in a particular place

What I'm asking myself is: Does it matter whether I use "life" or "living" in these phrases? Is there a difference between using living or life in these contexts or did the author just put them that way for the sake of variety? Is the way I copied them now the most natural?

Thank you very much in advance!
Ibex

[tiorthan]

Yes there's a difference between life and living. Living is the "verbal" noun or "the action of living" whereas life is the lifetime of a being (or life as the collective noun for living things). You can probably see why the author choose the words like that.