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ESL forum >
Ask for help > Is this sentence correct?
Is this sentence correct?
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metcet20
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Is this sentence correct?
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Hello everybody! Good evening!
In spite of his being lazy, we couldn �t manage to finish the project.
I was told you cannot use gerund noun phrase when the subjects of the main and the other clause are different. Is there a rule like that?
Thank you. |
5 Jan 2011
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yanogator
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No, that isn �t the rule. If you had left out "his", the phrase would have referred to "we". With "his" as the subject of the gerund, the sentence is fine, although it seems that it should be "Because of his being lazy..."
Bruce |
5 Jan 2011
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edrodmedina
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Don Q, I �m not up on the rules but the sentence doesn �t sound correct. "Because of his being lazy, we couldn �t manage to finish the project." sounds better. "In spite of his being lazy, we managed to finish the project." This would be another correct answer. |
5 Jan 2011
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zailda
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It �s correct, a more informal way to say the same is:
In spite of him being lazy, ...
It might sound strange, but it �s grammatically correct. |
5 Jan 2011
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edrodmedina
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Yes the sentence is grammaticaly correct but doesn �t make sense. |
5 Jan 2011
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libertybelle
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In spite of his laziness - we did manage to finish the project. that is the gist of that sentence - but the original one doesn �t make sense.
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5 Jan 2011
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metcet20
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Thank you all , I felt privilaged |
5 Jan 2011
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zailda
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Because of his being lazy, we couldn �t manage to finish the project.
Because of him being lazy, we couldn �t manage to finish the project.
Because of his laziness we didn �t manage to finish the project.
In spite of his laziness we managed to finish the project. (referring to his characteristic, implies he�s always / most of times, usually lazy)
In spite of his being lazy, we managed to finish the project. (referring to his action occurred at some time)
In spite of him being lazy, we managed to finis the project. |
5 Jan 2011
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youness
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Because of being lazy, we couldn �t manage to finish the project
or
Because of his laziness, we coudn �t finish the project.
the speaker and the listener know about whom they are talking so that no need to put his or him |
5 Jan 2011
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Kita19
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I �m confused now...  I �m not sure if I �m getting the sentence right, but I don �t quite understand why should "his" be in that sentence... Why "his", a possessive pronoun? 
I would never use it in that sentence... It makes more sense to me with "him" instead, in spite of edrodmedina says it doesn �t make sense that way...
Zailda gave some options I would use.
Can anyone give me a good reason/grammar rule to use "his" in this sentence? 
Thanks!
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6 Jan 2011
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