"John being involved" or "John's being involved"

Question

Hi All,

which one is correct in the following sentence ?? - "John being involved" or "John's" being invloved" ?

Any allegations of Jon's being involved in that kind of crime are purely ridiculous.

Would appreciate if any guru can explain why we need possessive case here .. "John being involved" also acts like noun, correct?

thanks,
Sharad

MrPedantic · Accepted Answer

Hello Sharad

1. Any allegations of Jon's being involved in that kind of crime are purely ridiculous.

2. Any allegations of Jon being involved in that kind of crime are purely ridiculous.

There are two views of this kind of sentence.

View 1
"Allegation of" requires an object. In #1, the object is the gerund "being involved", which is qualified by "Jon's". "Being involved" = "involvement". An "allegation of someone's involvement" makes sense.

In #2, however, "being involved" is a participle. The object of "allegation of" is therefore "Jon". "An allegation of Jon" doesn't make sense.

View 2
"Allegation of" requires an object. In #1, the object is the gerund "being involved", which is qualified by "Jon's". "Being involved" = "involvement". An "allegation of someone's involvement" makes sense.

In #2, however, the object of "allegation of" is not "Jon", and it's not "being involved". It's a combination of the two: the participle string "Jon-being-involved".

(My own opinion, for what it's worth, is that both forms are valid, but have slightly different meanings: #1 puts the emphasis on the action, whereas #2 puts the emphasis on agent + action.)

MrP

"John being involved" or "John's being involved"

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions