Conversation started Jun 29, 2015 at 17:51.
Anonymous
Jun 29, 2015 17:51
> I enjoyed his [reading of the poem].
Anonymous
Reading of the poem has the shape of a noun phrase. Reading takes noun-like complementation, in this case an of-PP
Anonymous
It's a noun phrase. It's not a gerund-participial clause.
Anonymous
Reading the poem has the shape of a clause. Reading takes verb-like complementation, in this case a direct object
Anonymous
It's a gerund-participial clause. It's not a noun phrase.
Anonymous
The his/him alternation only shows up when it's the subject of a gerund-participial clause.
2
Anonymous
Jun 29, 2015 17:55
So, his and him are both possible in "I remember his/him reading my mail."
Anonymous
But not in "I enjoyed his/*him reading of the poem."
Anonymous
And we can tell that because the form of reading of the poem is not that of a gerund-participial clause
Anonymous
Now let's look at your example.
Anonymous
> I don't know of him/his leaving the town.
Anonymous
This does appear to have the shape of a gerund-participial clause. Again, we can tell because of the verb-like complementation. It takes a direct object, something nouns don't do.
Anonymous
Jun 29, 2015 17:57
So we can analyze him/his as subject, and we expect, unless any other rules preclude the alternation, that both forms will be possible.
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
This is a very good summary, let me read it again...
Damkerng T.
Damkerng T.
We could use a bookmark here!
Anonymous
That's why I consider it more like [65] iii than [65] i.
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
No no I was taking about [63] i
Anonymous
Give me a moment
Man_From_India
Man_From_India
Jun 29, 2015 18:02
@snailboat I read it quite a number of times but this is a bit odd...
Sure.
Anonymous
The relevant portion of [63] i has the same form as [65] iii, doesn't it? A gerund-participial clause with a personal pronoun as subject. It can take either form.
Anonymous
The gerund-participial clause is the complement of the preposition to in [63] i.
 
Conversation ended Jun 29, 2015 at 18:03.