Dear Tdol

[wendy]

a. I appreciate your taking the time to talk with me.
b. I appreciate you taking the time to talk with me.

Could you tell me which is gerund and which is participle??

They're both gerunds- the difference between 'your' and 'you'is simply a question of formal\informal style in BE.

So you mean
Michael and David disagree about Michael's puttting up his posters--->gerund [formal]
Michael and David disagree about Michael puttting up his posters---->gerund [informal]
right??

[Tdol]

Michael's = formal.

[Tdol]

BTW- it's easire if you reply to the thread where we have answered, so we can look back at earlier posts, otherwise we end up jumping around.

[wendy]

Dear Tdol, do you mean
Michael and David disagree about Michael puttting up his posters---->gerund [informal]

???
please clear this to me, I'm still confused.

[Tdol]

Yes,it's a gerund- it means 'the act of putting up the posters', not an adjective describing Michael, or a present participle denoting what he is doing at the moment.
Does this help?

[MikeNewYork]

Dear Tdol, do you mean
Michael and David disagree about Michael puttting up his posters---->gerund [informal]

???
please clear this to me, I'm still confused.

I can understand your confusion, and we are adding to it. TDOL and I eveidently disagree aboput the classification of the vrebal when not preceded by a possessive. IMO, it is a participle; TDOL calls it a gerund. I guess you'll have to pick one opinion and stick with that. :?

[Tdol]

It depends whether you want to speak American English or proper English.

[MikeNewYork]

It depends whether you want to speak American English or proper English.

False choice, there. :wink: