1

What is the difference between the two sentences below?

Are they both grammatically correct?

  1. I dislike his being blunt.
  2. I dislike him being blunt.
tchrist
  • 134,759
javed iqbal
  • 101
  • 2
  • 6
  • I dislike him* being blunt* is more commonly used, but I dislike his* being blunt* is heard although it seems slightly archaic. – BladorthinTheGrey Jul 22 '16 at 10:03
  • The example sentences don't sound too idiomatic; 'I don't like him being so blunt' is what I'd expect. // With 'I didn't like his singing at the opera', the POSS-ing variant focuses on the performance. With 'I didn't like him singing at the opera', the ACC-ing, the focus is either on the choice of tenor, or on concern for 'his' poor health etc. – Edwin Ashworth Jul 22 '16 at 10:21
  • 1
    Both accusative "him" and genitive "his" are correct, the only difference being one of formality with the genitive being a tad more formal. – BillJ Jul 23 '16 at 13:03

2 Answers2

4

"I dislike his being blunt" means I dislike it when he speaks in a blunt manner. "I dislike him being blunt" means I dislike this person-- when he is being blunt. Actually, the first is more grammatically correct--and this is probably what the speaker means to say--- but people very often use the second way.

Shlomo Green
  • 318
-1

Technically 1 is correct and 2 is incorrect, but in practice people use both.

In the example, "being blunt" is a gerund, and takes the possessive, ie "his". (See http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/do-i-hate-your-singing-or-you-singing).

Gerunds are nouns made out of verbs, and that is why they are used with possessive pronouns. If the gerund / noun "being blunt" was replaced with a more straightforward noun such as "hair", the sentence would have to be "I dislike his hair", and could not be "I dislike him hair".

In theory the gerund behaves in the same way - though in real usage it is probably more common to use "him" rather than "his", especially when speaking. In writing people tend to be slightly more formal, so you are more likely to see "his" in written examples.

Richard Shepherd
  • 456
  • 2
  • 3
  • 2
    Personal pronoun subjects of non-finite gerund-participial clauses in complement function can be genitive or non-genitive. If non-genitive, then accusative case is right. So in the OP’s example, both genitive “his” and accusative “him” are correct, the only difference being one of formality with the genitive being a tad more formal. Your example is irrelevant since “hair” is a noun, whereas “being blunt” is a non-finite clause as complement to “dislike”, so different considerations apply. And "being" is a verb, not a noun, since it has an adjectival predicative complement. Only verbs have PCs. – BillJ Jul 23 '16 at 13:24