OF + NOUN +BEING

Question

Nearly a century of case-by-case adjudication has been necessary to develop and enforce the principle of all juries being drawn from “a fair cross section of the community.

Nearly a century of case-by-case adjudication has been necessary to develop and enforce the principle that all juries be drawn from “a fair cross section of the community.

Thanks CJ. However if y

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

It's a preposition (of) with a non-finite (gerund) clause complement. (Yes, it's correct.)

Some grammarians insist that the subject of such a clause be possessive, thus, of all juries' being drawn ....

The meaning is the same as in its equivalent content clause: that all juries (are to) be drawn from ....

CJ

Pokh · Answer

Nearly a century of case-by-case adjudication has been necessary to develop and enforce the principle of all juries being drawn from “a fair cross section of the community.

Nearly a century of case-by-case adjudication has been necessary to develop and enforce the principle that all juries be drawn from “a fair cross section of the community.

Thanks CJ. However if you consider above two sentences... I think there is a shift in emphasis.. Consider first on..

to develop and enforce the principle of all juries + Modifier (being drawn from)..

Sounds to me as if above sentence is not putting emphasis on what principle is it?
whereas in second one its pretty clear....

maybe I am wrong.... please help me out

CalifJim · Answer

pokhto develop and enforce the principle of all juries + Modifier (being drawn from)..

If you adopt this approach, you end up with an ungrammatical sentence - or at least an incomprehensible sentence. I think your impression that the emphasis is different is due to your thinking of being drawn ... as a modifier - which it isn't. Once you understand being drawn as the verb of the clause, your feeling of differing emphases in the two sentences will go away to some extent. You'll see that they both say the same thing, and that the first one is not nearly as unclear as you first thought.

Consider:

... and enforce the principle of all juries which are drawn from the community. (Also "juries" with a modifier.)

... and enforce the principle of all randomly selected juries. (Also "juries" with a modifier.)

In what possible sense can "All juries which are drawn from the community" be a principle?

In what possible sense can "All randomly selected juries" be a principle?

A principle has to be stated as a full thought, a full clause. It can't just be a noun phrase. It makes no sense to say, for example, "This is the principle: Objects that are circular." You need a verb to state a principle.

So being drawn has the role of a verb in the non-finite clause, not the role of an adjective (modifier), if that's what you're thinking. The finite form is (juries) are drawn; the non-finite form is (juries) being drawn. (Both are passive constructions, by the way.)

Compare:

We found evidence of drunken sailors bothering passers-by.

Following the line of argument above, bothering passers-by has to be the (non-finite) verb phrase that goes with the subject drunken sailors, not a modifier. The finite form is Drunken sailors were bothering passers-by.

(These are both active voice, by the way, so there's no being. The passive form would be

We found evidence of passers-by being bothered by drunken sailors, in case you're interested!)

I'm sure you can find the equivalent that-clauses for these. Test them out and see if you think they are clearer than those given above.

CJ

OF + NOUN +BEING

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