[title]Family quotes[/title] [description]Welcome to our family quotes section! Here you'll find some of the funniest (and wisest) quotes on the subject of family life![/description]
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Latest post Thu, Sep 23 2004 3:08 AM by Marco. 1 replies.
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Marco  +  46868 Thu, 23 Sep 04 03:08 AM
Consider the following:

"Dave leaving on Karen's arriving worries me."

Is that correct? Is "leaving" a gerund without a possessive before it?

Is it possible to use an adverb with a gerund as it works as a noun: "my carefully planing"?

Is there any reason to use a gerund instead of a common noun(if possible)? Can that emphasize the sentence in any way?

Thanks.
Joined on Tue, Jul 6 2004
New Member 19
Mister Micawber  +  46891 Thu, 23 Sep 04 05:47 AM

Hi Marco,

Interesting questions.

(1) "Dave's leaving on Karen's arriving worries me" is the preferred form, and especially here in your example where you have mixed the styles; but it is a gerund in any case.

(2) Sure: "My carefully planning the meeting precluded any problems." Seems a little awkward though, as we pack more words into the gerundial phrase-- we'd more likely use the noun phrase, 'my careful planning of...'.

(3) The gerund usually connotes the action better. 'Planning makes perfect' vs 'a plan makes perfect'. Often, however, writers use the gerund only because they are unaware of the appropriate noun.

Joined on Wed, Aug 4 2004
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