why the objective pronoun?

[pato389]

Hi everyone! I need help to understand why is the objective pronoun him is used in this sentences:
He wasn't worried about him getting hurt at all
If I had to write it, I would have used he and not him. Can you explain this to me?
Thanks!

[Barb_D]

Hi everyone! I need help to understand why is the objective pronoun him is used in this sentences:
He wasn't worried about him getting hurt at all
If I had to write it, I would have used he and not him. Can you explain this to me?
Thanks!

You shoudl actually write it as "his" getting hurt.

"Getting hurt" functions as a noun and takes the possessive adjective.
"He getting hurt" doesn't work at all.

[5jj]

You shoudl actually write it as "his" getting hurt.

That is opening up a can of worms. There has been argument about gerunds, verbal nouns and fused participles going back to Fowler, and before.

However, in the hope that we will not get led astray here, I agree, without reservation, that:

"He getting hurt" doesn't work at all.

[pato389]

OK, so it's clear that he doesn't work at all.
But the sentence I copied is ok. I found the pronoun him in the text. I haven't made a mistake.
Can you tell me why him is used? It sounds so strange to me. I don't understand it.

[Barb_D]

You need an object -- what the person was (or in this case, was not) worried about.

People who write "him" (and most do) say "He wasn't worried about him. In particular, he wasn't worried about him getting hurt.

People who write "his" think of this this way. It's possible to get hurt. Getting hurt is possible. "Getting hurt" functions as a noun in this sentence. But who might get hurt? Who "owns" this concept of getting hurt? He does. So it's "his getting hurt."

His getting hurt was not something he was worried about. He wasn't worried about his getting hurt.

[TheParser]

Hi everyone! I need help to understand why is the objective pronoun him is used in this sentences:
He wasn't worried about him getting hurt at all
If I had to write it, I would have used he and not him. Can you explain this to me?
Thanks!

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


(1) The moderator and the teacher have both given us excellent answers.

(2) This is what I have learned:

(a) Mr. Smith did not approve of that man's marrying his daughter. This means that the father disapproves of the marriage. Maybe a marriage at a later time would be OK.

(b) Mr. Smith did not approve of that man marrying his daughter. This means that Mr. Smith does not like that "man."

(3) I also read that sometimes we use the objective form ("him")

when we form a mental image in our mind:

I can easily remember him stealing a cookie from the jar.

(That is, I can picture him in the act.)

If we say: I remember his stealing a cookie from the jar,

that means that we are just giving a factual report.

CREDITS:

Descriptive English Grammar by Professors Homer House and Susan Harman.

The Grammar Book by Professors Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman.

[pato389]

Now it's clear!
Thank you all!