suggest his going / suggest him going

[ysc1230]

Recently I found that (A) is correct.

I am not sure if (B) is also correct.


(A) I suggest his going to bed early.

(B) I suggest him going to bed early.


Which one should I use?

Please advice, thank you very much!

 

[5jj]

(A))I suggest his going to bed early.

(B) I suggest him going to bed early.

A is possible; B is not.

More likely to be heard are:

I suggest going to bed Context will normally make it clear who should be going to bed.
I suggest (that) he goes/(should) go to bed.

 

[ysc1230]

I saw this post.
https://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/68402-suggest.html


However, I want to know whether I should use (possessive adjective) + gerund on all the sentences or it only applies on particular type of verbs and situation.

Can you please correct my sentences? I want to make sure I understand this structure.

1. My mother doesn't allow my / me smoking at home.

2. He encourages our / us asking questions on this forum.

Thank you very much for your help!

 

[bhaisahab]

I saw this post.
https://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/68402-suggest.html


However, I want to know whether I should use (possessive adjective) + gerund on all the sentences or it only applies on particular type of verbs and situation.

Can you please correct my sentences? I want to make sure I understand this structure.

1. My mother doesn't allow my / me smoking at home. "me to smoke" or "my smoking"

2. He encourages our / us asking questions on this forum. "us to ask" or "our asking of" (this last is not likely).

Thank you very much for your help!

Bhai.

 

[BobK]

:up:

The OP should be careful not to treat verbs of knowing in the same way:

My mother doesn't know about my / me smoking at home. Either of these is possible but not My mother doesn't know about me to smoke at home

('Just so you know', as we say - informally. ;-))

b

 

[ysc1230]

Thanks Teachers~

I still keep finding teaching materials about this subject on the internet. And I found that I am not sure if it is true.

** In traditional English grammar, a noun or pronoun preceding a gerund must be genitive (possessive). However, nowadays, it is getting more common to see the objective used in place of the possessive.
For example:
(a) The policeman catches his stealing in the grocery store.
(b) The policeman catches him stealing in the grocery store.


Could native teachers give some comments?

 

[Rover_KE]

(a) is wrong, as stealing is not a gerund but the present participle of the verb.

Rover

 

[BobK]

Thanks Teachers~

I still keep finding teaching materials about this subject on the internet. And I found that I am not sure if it is true.

** In traditional English grammar, a noun or pronoun preceding a gerund must be genitive (possessive). However, nowadays, it is getting more common to see the objective used in place of the possessive.
For example:
(a) The policeman catches his stealing in the grocery store.
(b) The policeman catches him stealing in the grocery store.


Could native teachers give some comments?

:up: It's a bad example (that is, wrong ;-)), but the point he's making does reflect a change in usage. Prescriptive grammars used to hold that a gerund, when it's an object, should have a possessive. (We've already seen this in an earlier example: My mother doesn't know about my smoking. Some people still do this (I do), but no credible teacher insists on it today. That's why, when I gave that example, I gave the version My mother doesn't know about me smoking. as well.

b

 

[ysc1230]

I am really grateful to BobK and Rover_KE for giving me comments.


However, I get more confused when I saw your answer. :roll: <---My problem.

Since I supposed the following sentence was correct.

(The policeman catches his stealing in the grocery store.)

The policeman = noun.
catches = verb.
steal verb. (action) --> stealing (gerund)

Then I do not see anything wrong. Could you give me more information about this subject? I can read by myself, thank you very much!


From Oxford dictionary

Original:
I'll report you to the police if I catch you stealing again.

How about if I rewrite as:
I'll report you to the police if I catch your stealing again.

Is it wrong?

 

[Rover_KE]

How about if I rewrite as:
I'll report you to the police if I catch your stealing again.

Is it wrong?

Yes, I answered that in post #7.

Rover