"It led to his starting to write dramas"

Question

Is it okay to say "It led to his starting to write dramas." or "It led to him starting to write dramas"?Is that correct and if yes, is it a high or a low level phrase?

GPY · Accepted Answer

Both are used. "his" is more formal and, according to some people, more technically correct.

Anonymous · Answer

GPYBoth are used. "his" is more formal and, according to some people, more technically correct.

It's excessively formal and not as common in everyday speech as "him".

Fivejedjon · Answer

I would not say that it was excessively formal. I don't think it's that uncommon in everyday speech; https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=led+to+him+starting%2Cled+to+his+starting%2Cled+to+me+starting%2C+led+to+my+starting&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cled%20to%20his%20starting%3B%2Cc shows it's certainl ynot uncommon in writing.

Anonymous · Answer

Using "him" would be more common and less formal.

GPY · Answer

fivejedjonI would not say that it was excessively formal.

I agree.

"It led to his starting to write dramas"

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions