[Grammar] having shot, having been shot prfect participle

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vaibhavmaskar

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The defendant's having shot the policeman reacted against him.

1. The defendant had shot someone so the policeman reacted against him(?)

His having been shot made him nervous."

2. his friend had been shot it made him nervous(?)

Is my 1&2 simplification of above sentence right?
 

tzfujimino

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Hello.:-D
We'll need help from native speakers.

"The defendant's having shot the policeman reacted against him."

I don't understand this sentence. The meaning/definition of 'react against somebody/something' is this.
"The defendant had reacted against the policeman, and Mr. D(=the defendant) shot Mr. P(=the policeman)." or "The defendant, who had reacted against the policeman, shot him(=the policeman)." is understandable to me.

"His having been shot made him nervous."
="The fact that he(=the policeman, in this context) had been shot made him(=the defendant, probably) nervous."

(I think they(=the '-ing forms' in your sentences) are called 'perfect gerunds', by the way.)
 
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Roman55

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The defendant's having shot the policeman reacted against him.

I am not a teacher.

I don't understand this sentence either.

The use of the possessive "defendant's" indicates that "having" is a gerund. So what is the subject of "reacted"?

Did the defendant shoot someone and the policeman reacted to that?
Did the defendant shoot the policeman who then reacted?

The way this could make sense, with the least possible alteration, would be to remove the 's and add a comma.
"The defendant having shot, the policeman reacted against him."
 

bhaisahab

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It doesn't make sense to me either.
 

Tdol

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My guess is that the fact that he had shot a police officer had a negative impact when he was standing trial for something else. The sentence is a mess,which is strange considering the writer is using the possessive form with a gerund, normally a usage favoured by those who are very careful with the words they choose.
 
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