Where is an object here?

Question

I liked his worrying about his wife.

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

Anonymous I liked his worrying about his wife.

eg I liked chocolate. (The object is chocolate.)

Pick the element in your sentence with the same function as chocolate.

Anonymous · Answer

Do you mean that the object is "his worrying about his wife"?

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Yes.

Anonymous · Answer

I stumbled across this question and I thought this is not grammatically correct? Correct me if I am wrong if any English expert see this...

Instead of

"I liked his worrying about his wife."

shouldn't that be

"I liked him worrying about his wife."

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Anonymous"I liked his worrying about his wife."

In traditional grammar, the "subject" of a gerund was in possessive case:

Jose's worrying about his wife caused him to have a heart attack.
His worrying about his wife caused him to have a heart attack.
Jose's heart attack was caused by his worrying about his wife.

When the gerund phrase was an object in the sentence, though, a dispute arose.

My parents objected to my drinking with my friends. (This has emphasis on the act of drinking.)
My parents objected to me drinking with my friends. (This has emphasis on me, when I engage in the act of drinking.)

The strict traditional prescriptive grammarian would only accept the possessive, although most native speakers break the rule.

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/dealing-with-pronouns-and-gerunds.html

CalifJim · Answer

Anonymous1 "I liked his worrying about his wife." ... 2 "I liked him worrying about his wife."

Regardless of what's technically right or wrong, I have to say that these sound like two completely different thoughts.

1. It was so nice of him to worry about his wife. It's an admirable quality. He is such a caring man.
2. I was glad that he was worrying about his wife. I took a sort of cruel pleasure in seeing him so worried.

CJ

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