I appreciate his/him taking care of the dog.

[diamondcutter]

1. I appreciate his taking care of the dog.

2. I appreciate him taking care of the dog.

Does the first sentence emphasize the whole thing of his taking care of the dog and the second one emphasize the action of taking care of the dog?

 

[emsr2d2]

For me, they mean exactly the same. The use of "his" in such sentences is falling out of favour these days.

 

[TheParser]

NOT A TEACHER

I just wanted to share with my fellow non-teacher members (and guests) that some books see a difference, one which I try to follow in speech and writing.

I have made up these sentences. (1) "I really appreciate his visiting me." = The visiting is what I appreciate. (2) "I really appreciate him visiting me." = The emphasis is on "him." Maybe we were not friends after a tiff, but he slowly came around to liking me again. And I, him. (And I slowly came around to liking him again.) Perhaps in speech, one would stress the word "him."

 

[emsr2d2]

To put the emphasis on the visit, I'd use "I really appreciated his visit". However, with a different intonation ("I really appreciated his visit"), it would be clear that I was referring to his visit rather than the visit by someone else.