A sentence from a newspaper article:
"Allen's harassing presence contributed to Kobe coughing up seven turnovers."
In formal English one would have to write "Kobe's." Right?
Thanks.
My 0.02$ (with some gross overvaluation maybe):
You need the possessive case there.
Allen's harassing presence contributed to [Kobe (coughing up seven turnovers)].
If Kobe is noun in accusative case, it means we can drop 'coughing up seven turnovers'. But this would yield to a non-sentence:
Allen's harassing presence contributed to Kobe. :cross:
On the other hand, if Kobe is in genitive case: 'Kobe's, we would have a determiner-noun (gerund phrase) sequence, where the removal of the former would not result in ungrammaticality:
Allen's harassing presence contributed to [STRIKE]Kobe's[/STRIKE] coughing up seven turnovers. :tick:
Still, it is widespread usage in informal register:
Allen's harassing presence contributed to Kobe coughing up seven turnovers.
RSA -Mexico 1:1 :up:
