He suggested my going to Europe?

[spoon]

Hi teachers,

I'd like to know if I can say "He suggested my going to Europe?"

Is this right and grammatical?

Thanks in advance!

Spoon

[steph_333]

I'm not a teacher........but if you'd like to say that someone asked you if you want to go to europe I'd say:
"He suggested me to go to Europe."
hope that helps a little

[Dingal2000]

Originally Posted by spoon

I'd like to know if I can say "He suggested my going to Europe?"

Im not a teacher either, but I believe that is completely fine, and you can say that.

[spoon]

Thanks both you~!

[kjelladrian]

Hi spoon!

I'm Kjell from Sweden, and I'm studying English C at university level. Accordingly I'm not a teacher yet. But as another confirmation to your suggestion/question I can say that your intuition led you right this time. It's an elegant way of saying what someone has suggested you. Just by looking at the clause, my intuition told me that it's a grammatically correct meaning. But to confirm that hunch I typed in the phrase "* suggested my going *" on the google-site, and these are three examples out of many that came up: "She suggested my going to Lord Ronsdale.", "suggested my going to bed.", "Miss Sellars, A co-worker suggested my going to Alanon", "He suggested my going to see a doctor."

Best/Kjell

[thebsbwang]

Dear All,

I am a new comer here,and my English is not good,but when I see this sentence,I am thinking of another sentence"do you mind my smoking?",therefore,I think "he suggested my going to Europe?" should be right!

Sincerely,

Jinky

[rogusx]

<<I'm not a teacher........but if you'd like to say that someone asked you if you want to go to europe I'd say:
"He suggested me to go to Europe."
hope that helps a little>>

Actually, 'suggest' belongs in a category of verbs that do not allow for this structure, and are not followed by an infinitive in this way. You can say
He suggested that I should go to Europe.
He suggested I go to Europe.
but not
*He suggested me to go to Europe.

Other verbs that behave in a similar way are 'recommend' 'insist' and 'demand'.

[spoon]

Originally Posted by rogusx

<<I'm not a teacher........but if you'd like to say that someone asked you if you want to go to europe I'd say:
"He suggested me to go to Europe."
hope that helps a little>>
Actually, 'suggest' belongs in a category of verbs that do not allow for this structure, and are not followed by an infinitive in this way. You can say
He suggested that I should go to Europe.
He suggested I go to Europe.
but not
*He suggested me to go to Europe.
Other verbs that behave in a similar way are 'recommend' 'insist' and 'demand'.

Yes. You are absolutely right!

But 'He suggested my going to Europe' is grammatical? Do natives say like this? I've alrady known people usually say ' He suggested going to Europe." without 'my'(genetive).
Could you please explain this to me?

p.s. By the way, 'explain' is also one of verbs that have the similar structure of 'suggest'.

Sincerely,
Spoon