suggest him/his buying a car

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Verona_82

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2010
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Other
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Russian
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Russian Federation
Current Location
Ukraine
Hello,

A colleague asked me yesterday about the difference between the following sentences:

We suggested him buying a car
We suggested his buying a car.

She's interested to know if 'suggest' works in the same way as, for example, 'imagine', since both verbs can be followed by an -ing form:

I imagined him doing that
I imagined his doing that

Personally, I would use neither a posessive nor an object pronoun after 'suggest' and opt for a "we suggested that he..." structure, but I cannot explain why, and of course I might be wrong.

I'd be very grateful if someone could comment on that.
Thank you.
 

bhaisahab

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Apr 12, 2008
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Retired English Teacher
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British English
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England
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Ireland
Hello,

A colleague asked me yesterday about the difference between the following sentences:

We suggested him buying a car
We suggested his buying a car.

She's interested to know if 'suggest' works in the same way as, for example, 'imagine', since both verbs can be followed by an -ing form:

I imagined him doing that
I imagined his doing that

Personally, I would use neither a posessive nor an object pronoun after 'suggest' and opt for a "we suggested that he..." structure, but I cannot explain why, and of course I might be wrong.

I'd be very grateful if someone could comment on that.
Thank you.
I would say, "We suggested (that) he buy a car".
 

Verona_82

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2010
Member Type
Other
Native Language
Russian
Home Country
Russian Federation
Current Location
Ukraine
I would say, "We suggested (that) he buy a car".


Thank you.
So would I. But.... is it because native speakers just don't use possessive and object pronouns with this verb?
 
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