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Henry74 Posted 13 years ago
Grammar
Despite + possessive
Hello,
Can you please tell me if despite takes the possessive? For example,
- Despite the road's being covered with ice, we managed to get back home safe without chains.
Is that correct, or should it be "Despite the road being covered..."?
Looking at older posts, I saw that the possessive was recommended when what followed was a person or persons. E.g.
- Dispite his being a competent person, etc.
- In spite of these volunteers' feeling anxious when in contact with different cultures, etc.
I was wondering if this was true also for cases where what followed was not a person, like in my example.
Thank you.
H.
Can you please tell me if despite takes the possessive? For example,
- Despite the road's being covered with ice, we managed to get back home safe without chains.
Is that correct, or should it be "Despite the road being covered..."?
Looking at older posts, I saw that the possessive was recommended when what followed was a person or persons. E.g.
- Dispite his being a competent person, etc.
- In spite of these volunteers' feeling anxious when in contact with different cultures, etc.
I was wondering if this was true also for cases where what followed was not a person, like in my example.
Thank you.
H.
Top answer
I'm not fussy about this distinction, but you will find those who insist on the possessive in all cases like that. Sometimes these are examiners, so be careful in a test situation. Of course you can't make the subject of that clause possessive when it's there .
- I'm not fussy about this distinction, but you will find those who insist on the possessive in all cases like that.
- Sometimes these are examiners, so be careful in a test situation.
- Of course you can't make the subject of that clause possessive when it's there .
- Despite there being so much ice on the road, we managed to get home safe.
- ) CJ
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2 Answers
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I'm not fussy about this distinction, but you will find those who insist on the possessive in all cases like that. Sometimes these are examiners, so be careful in a test situation.
Of course you can't make the subject of that clause possessive when it's there.
Despite there being so much ice on the road, we managed to get home safe. (Not there's.)
Of course you can't make the subject of that clause possessive when it's there.
Despite there being so much ice on the road, we managed to get home safe. (Not there's.)
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