you lying / your lying to me

Question

Hello teachers, 1). I hate it when you lie to me.[What does "it" refer to here, please? Does the sentence mean that 'I hate being in the situation where you lie to me'?]2). I hate you lying to me.3). I hate your lying to me. [Would you tell me the difference in meaning of #2 and 3, please? I think I know that in #3, 'your' is a possessive adjective and 'lying' is a gerund acting as a noun and being qualified by 'your'. But could you please highlight the direct and indirect objects in the sentence?] 4). I hate the lying of yours to me.  (is this correct at all?)Thank you.

Talking Business · Accepted Answer

Quick answer would be that 4 is not possible/correct. 1, 2 and 3 are all correct but mean something slightly different in each case.

Talking Business · Answer

1. refers to the situation in itself
2. refers particularly to "you" and not someone else
3. refers to a repeated action that you do to me

Talking Business · Answer

So in each case you really want to say something different.

Laborious · Answer

Thank you, Talking Business, for sparing your precious time for me. You said, "4 is not possible/correct". But I have seen and read about constructions like that in books and on English learning sites as well, where the the "-ing" form of a verb can be preceded by an article (in our case by "the") and followed by a prepositional phrase with the preposition "of". In such cases, the -ing form is referred to as a 'verbal noun'.

CalifJim · Answer

Laborious1). I hate it when you lie to me.

The it is meaningless. You can think of it as a dummy it representing the situation described in the when-clause, but it is just part of the grammatical pattern love it when, like it when, hate it when. Some speakers omit the it.

Laborious2). I hate you lying to me.

Interpretation 1. A common, less formal variant of I hate your lying to me.
Interpretation 2. I hate you— because you lie to me. / I hate you— when you lie to me.

Laborious3). I hate your lying to me.

Technically, this is grammatically "more correct" than the previous example. I hate the fact that you lie to me.

Laborious4). I hate the lying of yours to me.

Oof! If I were you, I would not use this one! Here is a similar one you can use, sparingly, which isn't quite so awkward. This is quite informal.

I hate this constant lying of yours.

CJ

Talking Business · Answer

You've got me there! Maybe you should throw it open to the others. All I know is that you can't/shouldn't use this construction especially when you have 3 perfectly valid options to choose from. In Ireland we do say "I hate THAT lying of yours" to express that lying is a common personality trait. But to add “to me” at the end implies that you don’t mind “that lying” in other circumstances to other people. I’m not too hot or even keen on grammar, rather more in favour of usage and getting your meaning across. Hope that helps

RandomGuy · Answer

LaboriousI think I know that in #3, 'your' is a possessive adjective and 'lying' is a gerund acting as a noun and being qualified by 'your'.

No.

Laborious · Answer

Dear Aspara Gus, Could you please make it clearer to me what I am wrong about? I'd really feel obliged to you if you told me how you would label each part/word in #3, please.

Thank you.

you lying / your lying to me

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