20

Possessive Plus Gerund (“Fused Participle”)

Some people regard it as an error when you fail to use a possessive before a gerund in a structure like this:

I appreciate you calling.

Instead, they say, that should be your. In fact, you is not really an error here. But when you look at the syntax, you can see why some people frown upon it.

Start by asking, what’s the object of the verb appreciate in I appreciate you calling? It’s you. That puts calling in an awkward position. It’s not the object of the verb. It’s not anything. It has no clear syntactical role in the sentence.

Compare that to I appreciate your calling. Here, the object of appreciate is calling. Remember that -ing forms can be gerunds, which are essentially nouns, which means they can function as the objects of transitive verbs like appreciate.

When you choose the possessive your instead of the non-possessive you, it becomes a modifier of calling, meaning the two create a complete noun phrase that makes perfect syntactical sense after appreciate. This is sometimes called the possessive plus gerund. It’s considered superior by people who pay attention to such things.

The alternative, a non-possessive noun phrase like you before the -ing form, is sometimes called a fused participle. The name suggests that the -ing form is just fused to a noun phrase in a way that doesn’t make sense.

In fact, both forms are acceptable.