having

[Dany]

Hello everyone,

My teacher said, that "have" in refer to a possession never works with "ing".

But now, I found this sentence:

Concorde, the world's fastest passanger plane, was developed by France and Britain together. In the 1950's, both countries dreamed of having a supersonic plane.

In this sentence "having" refers to a possession . Or did I misunderstand it?

Would you please explain me, why there is used "having"?

Thanks in advance,
Dany

[Tdol]

You're right that it is for possession here, but it is a gerund, used after a preposition. What you're teacher meant was that it isn't used as a main verb for possession:

I am having (main verb) a supersonic plane. (wrong)
Having (gerund) a supersonic plane was a dream for them. (fine)

[Casiopea]

Originally Posted by Dany

Hello everyone,

My teacher said, that "have" in refer to a possession never works with "ing".

But now, I found this sentence:

Concorde, the world's fastest passanger plane, was developed by France and Britain together. In the 1950's, both countries dreamed of having a supersonic plane.

In this sentence "having" refers to a possession . Or did I misunderstand it?

Would you please explain me, why there is used "having"?

Thanks in advance,
Dany

As a verb, or when it refers to an action, 'have' doesn't take -ing, but as a noun, or when it refers to a thing, 'have' takes -ing.

EX: . . . dreamed (verb) of (preposition) having (object/noun/gerund)

Words that end in -ing that function as objects of the verb or as objects of a preposition are called gerunds. Gerunds are nouns; they refer to a thing, and they look like verbs because they end in -ing.

[Dany]

Thank you very much for your explanations

Christmas greetings,
Dany

[Tdol]

And to you too.