[Grammar] appreciate your being here/appreciate you helping us

[yyfroy]

Hi, respectable teachers,


When I checked with google:


【We appreciate your being here.】is way more than【We appreciate you being here.】


BUT,


【We appreciate you helping us.】is more than【We appreciate your helping us.】




Do you think 4 sentences are all correct? Do they all sound natural to native speakers?
(Please specify it's AmEnglish or BrEnglish, if it is proper)

Thank you very much!

 

[MikeNewYork]

They are all correct in AmE.

One form is possessive adjective + gerund noun. The other form is objective pronoun + participle.

 

[Rover_KE]

Welcome back to the forum, yyfroy.:-D

[STRIKE]Hi, respectable teachers,[/STRIKE] I think you meant 'respected teachers', but no salutation is necessary. Just go ahead and ask your question.

When I checked with google:

'We appreciate your being here' is way more common than 'We appreciate you being here.'

BUT,

'We appreciate you helping us' is more common than 'We appreciate your helping us.'

Do you think all four sentences are [STRIKE]all[/STRIKE] correct?
(Please specify whether it's AmEnglish or BrEnglish, if necessary.)

[STRIKE]Thank you very much![/STRIKE] Unnecessary. Just click 'Thank' when you get a useful reply.

They are all correct in BrE, too.

 

[Tdol]

Do you think 4 sentences are all correct? Do they all sound natural to native speakers?

They do. Traditionally, the possessive + gerund form was favoured, but nowadays the object pronoun is more common.

 

[yyfroy]

Thank you Rover_KE,

especially for your correction of my questions!!

That's very nice of you!

 

[MikeNewYork]

I find them to be equally common.

 

[yyfroy]

Thank you, you guys!:lol:

 

[Tdol]

I find them to be equally common.

Thanks for letting me know. In BrE, the object pronoun is winning and is crossing over into more formal areas, though these are the areas where the possessive is still to be found.

 

[Rover_KE]

Thank you Rover_KE,

especially for your correction of my questions!!

I notice you posted the same question on the WR and UE forums without making the amendments I had suggested.

We recommend posting a question on one forum only initially. If you do not get a satisfactory answer from that forum and you feel that you have exhausted its possibilities, then of course trying a different forum might help. It is only courteous however, to tell the second forum that you have already asked the question on another forum and then give a precis of the answers you received there, along with an explanation of why you are now looking elsewhere.
(emsr2d2)

 

[TheParser]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Hello, Yyfroy:

The teachers have already answered you. I just wanted to share some ideas that, I believe, are reasonably accurate.

1. Here in the United States, I suspect that most people who say "I appreciate you being here" ACTUALLY mean "your." Most people, of course, are very busy with their lives and have no time (or interest) in the finer points of grammar. Since so many people (of all educational levels) say "you," it is understandable that many (most?) Americans use "you" without thinking about it.

2. There are some (a few?) people who feel that there is a helpful distinction between the two. I will discuss what they say. I am not saying that they are correct, especially in 2015, when some grammar "rules" are no longer followed by many native speakers.

a. "I really appreciate your being here." = The emphasis is on the "being." You did not know whether you would have time to attend the speaker's party, but you rearranged your work schedule in order to attend the party. The speaker wants to express his gratitude.

b. "I really appreciate you being here." = The emphasis is on "you." Let's say that you and the speaker were once friends but later became enemies. Yet you show up at the speaker's birthday party. The speaker is astonished, grateful, and touched that you (an enemy) would actually come to her birthday party!

3. I personally like this distinction, but I doubt that many people nowadays follow it.




James

 

[yyfroy]

Oh, another question,

Do you think the sentence below is correct or natural, too?




"You can think about what you appreciate to."

 

[yyfroy]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Hello, Yyfroy:

The teachers have already answered you. I just wanted to share some ideas that, I believe, are reasonably accurate.

...

James

.
.
.
Thank you for your enthusiasm, TheParser James!

 

[Rover_KE]

Oh, another question,

Do you think the sentence below is correct or natural, too?

"You can think about what you appreciate to."

No — it doesn't make sense.

 

[yyfroy]

So, it should be

either, "You can think about what you appreciate."

or, "You can think about what you appreciate, too."

right? Mr. Rover_KE? (because I heard the sentence from an English teaching program)

 

[Rover_KE]

Right.

 

[Barb_D]

When you introduce a new question, please start a new thread.