throughly mixed questions

Question

1. What is the difference?He is the most upset.He is most upset.2. Why the word underlined has to be their and not them ? This will prevent their ever going to heaven.3. Is this sentence correct?It's food.4. Why is it when we ask who that person is, we ask with the  word "it"?Who is it you went with?(Knock, Knock) Who is it?

Rvw · Accepted Answer

1.

He is the most upset. = He is the most upset of those in the group. 0r: he is the most upset he has ever been.

He is most upset. = He is upset to a great degree.

2. I think either works, though the second may be somewhat informal with "from" ellipted.

This will prevent their ever going to heaven. (Going is a gerund, the direct object of prevent.)
This will prevent them [from] ever going to heaven. (Them is the direct object of prevent; from ever going to heaven is an adverbial prepositional phrase modifying prevent.)

3.

It's food. This is a proper response to "What is it?" This is a normal use of the pronoun it.

4.

Who is it you went with?
Who is it?

I think these are examples of expletive it. As declarative sentences, they might be:

It is who you went with.
Who is it [who knocks on my door]? ... It is who knocks on my door.

Paul Roberts, in Understanding Grammar, has this:

Expletive it arises from the facts that English (1) shrinks from putting long phrase or clause subjects at the beginning of sentences and (2) likes to have the subject before the verb. Expletive it is a compromise: it fills the subject position pending the arrival of the real subject. Expletive means "filler."

Believer · Answer

Thank you.

Here in this sentence, what do you call the word 'their' grammatically?

This will prevent their ever going to heaven.

Kilimanjaro · Answer

BelieverThank you.

Here in this sentence, what do you call the word 'their' grammatically?

This will prevent their ever going to heaven.

We feel the necessity for a possessive form more particularly when the gerund is the subject of the main verb :

Your calling on us just at this time is most inconvenient.

When the gerund is the object of the main verb, however, we often use the object form of a personal pronoun, more especially in the spoken language:

Do you mind me coming as well?

The object form of a personal pronoun or other noun is always preferred where the use of possesive would entail an awkward (or, in spoken English, misleading) construction :

I remember him and his sister coming to London. (Not his and his sister's)

The possesive form also tends not to be used with common nouns (or even proper nouns) before the gerund.

I object to the car being left there (Not the car's)

I appreciate John helping me (Rather than John's)

Best wishes

Kili

Rvw · Answer

Their is a possessive personal pronoun modifying going.

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