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Thread: preposition and gerund ?

  1. #1
    cho7712 is offline Newbie
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    Default preposition and gerund ?

    It is known to the grammar rule that the preposition can take the nominal.
    And I've got the puzzling question that this structure can be possible to use,
    i.e. Based on his doing things
    That the preposition is followed by the gerund structure with having its explicit subject.
    What are the native speaker's opinions?

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    Raymott's Avatar
    Raymott is offline VIP Member
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    Default Re: preposition and gerund ?

    Quote Originally Posted by cho7712 View Post
    It is known to the grammar rule that the preposition can take the nominal.
    And I've got the puzzling question that this structure can be possible to use,
    i.e. Based on his doing things
    That the preposition is followed by the gerund structure with having its explicit subject.
    What are the native speaker's opinions?
    What you are saying sounds very obscure. Can you give some examples to illustrate these points?

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    cho7712 is offline Newbie
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    Default Re: preposition and gerund ?

    i.e.
    I cannot recall that I ever knew of his doing a wrong thing.
    He asked for more and confessed that Nottingham was being greedy as a result of his doing so.
    First, I could discover no impropriety or wrongdoing in his doing that.
    And he said five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in his doing so.

    And there are many more examples like above structure ; prep + subject(possessive) + gerund
    Is this usage is grammatically correct? (or may be used as a colloquial style?)

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    Raymott's Avatar
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    Default Re: preposition and gerund ?

    Quote Originally Posted by cho7712 View Post
    i.e.
    I cannot recall that I ever knew of his doing a wrong thing.
    He asked for more and confessed that Nottingham was being greedy as a result of his doing so.
    First, I could discover no impropriety or wrongdoing in his doing that.
    And he said five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in his doing so.

    And there are many more examples like above structure ; prep + subject(possessive) + gerund
    Is this usage is grammatically correct? (or may be used as a colloquial style?)
    Yes, it's correct. You can use that structure with most gerunds.
    "I'm tired of his speaking to me like that"
    "I will never tire of his buying me chocolates."
    "I'm sick of his being rude to me.
    "I'm embarrassed by his having made a fool of me."
    "I've known about his drug-taking for ages."
    Barb_D, probus, bhaisahab and 1 others like this.

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    cho7712 is offline Newbie
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    Default Re: preposition and gerund ?

    Thank you, Raymott!
    from now on I'm convinced to use this phrase.

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    Default Re: preposition and gerund ?

    I just wanted to add to this discussion that sometimes you will hear people say or see them write the equivalent of "based on him doing things". That structure, for me is a problem. I much prefer "his" as a modifier of the gerund.

    The gerund pretty clearly does not have a subject because then it would be acceptable to say "based on he doing things (nominative aka subjective case). "Based on the fact that he does things." would be a way of giving the verb a subject, but now it would not be a gerund but the simple predicate within a noun clause introduced by the "function words" "the fact that".

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    cho7712 is offline Newbie
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    Default Re: preposition and gerund ?

    um,then according to you, possesive is fine with its functioning as logical subject as well as specifier of the gerund but, objective form is awkward usage. Would it be too academic for me to ask you why?

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    Default Re: preposition and gerund ?

    One argument is that an adjective can modify a gerund, like a noun. You can say his book, but not him book. Mind you, I'm happy with the use of him + gerund.

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    Default Re: preposition and gerund ?

    Thank you for your answer, I'd better be informed with more examples and usage after that,I will ask more specfic question here. Have a nice day

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