What part of speech is..?

[Teia]

Hello teachers!

a] Is this sentence correct ?
b] What part of speech is "having" in the following sentence?


"The transport strike meant their having to walk to work."

Thank you very much in advance.

[matilda]

"The transport strike meant (their having to walk to work)."


the part in the parentheses is an object.and i think HAVING is geround here.

[Teia]

"The transport strike meant (their having to walk to work)."
the part in the parentheses is an object.and i think HAVING is geround here.

Hi Matilda

Thank you for your answer.
I think that "having" is a gerund : noun. "Having" is the direct object of the transitive verb "meant."
I also think that "their" is a personal pronoun in the genitive case ; it has the syntactic function of indirect object, though I am not so sure.


Regards,