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There is some dialogue in a movie I saw:

I don't want him knowing about this.

I always thought it was

I don't want him to know about this.

I've been confused for days. What is the difference between them, if any?

anongoodnurse
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user92025
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    Hi, and welcome to ELU. You might be interested in ELL, our sister site, which is a good site for basic English questions. This construction (I don't want him knowing/finding out/leaving too soon/etc.) is a common one, especially in spoken English. It means the same thing as to know/etc. It doesn't always work and it doesn't always sound natural. I think it's more common with negatives than positives (One wouldn't say, I want him knowing about this). – anongoodnurse Sep 20 '14 at 06:40
  • It is not, in my view, a particularly elegant way of speaking, though you will hear the present participle used a lot, particularly in the UK among regional speakers, to replace both the infinitive (as in this case) or more often the past participle. E.g. a waiter might say 'How would you like your steak cooking?', where Received English would say 'How would you like it cooked?'. – WS2 Sep 20 '14 at 07:09
  • Want can take either a gerund or an infinitive complement. The construct A want B Verb-ing is quite common, though only with an accusative subject, not a genitive one. In other words, *I don't want his knowing about this is right out, but I don't want him knowing about this is just fine, in fact as likely as the infinitive. – John Lawler Sep 20 '14 at 14:33
  • Differences in meaning? Well, they amount to the same thing in the end, but they get there by different routes. The infinitive tends to refer to the event of his coming to know (i.e, learning) about this, while the gerund tends to refer to the state of his knowing about this. The infinitive is inchoative and the gerund is the result state. Since every nonpermanent state has a beginning, and every change of state has a result state, they both refer to the same unwanted outcome. – John Lawler Sep 20 '14 at 14:36

1 Answers1

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The difference is subtle.

"I don't want him to know about Xyz" means you'd rather he not acquire knowledge about Xyz while "I don't want him knowing about Xyz" means you'd rather he not possess knowledge about Xyz.

But you will possess knowledge if and only if you acquire it (and you don't forget it). A difference that doesn't make a difference isn't really a difference.

Either form is acceptable and in common use.