gerunds

gerunds
 are verbs made to function as nouns, as with the italicized words in "I don’t like dancing" and "Cooking is an art." Two problems commonly arise with gerunds:
 1. Sometimes the gerund is unnecessarily set off by an article and preposition, as here: "They said that the valuing of the paintings could take several weeks." Deleting the italicized words would make the sentence shorter and more forceful.
 2. Problems also occur when a possessive noun or pronoun (called a genitive) qualifies a gerund. A common type of construction is seen here: "They objected to him coming." Properly it should be: "They objected to his coming." Similarly, "There is little hope of Smith gaining admittance to the club" should be "There is little hope of Smith’s gaining admittance.. ."

Bryson’s dictionary for writers and editors. 2013.

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