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Can we say:

His mother forbade his going out at midnight.

In some countries, women's wearing tiny skirts is totally forbidden!

But I don't mind (my) smoking here. here can we add "my"?

Somebody told me forbid+act so we can't say like that is that true?

Thanks very much!

moyeea
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  • Include in your question the research you’ve done. Questions which lack results of research may be closed. (more) – MetaEd Aug 05 '16 at 21:19
  • It's different sir. Here I just want to talk about these sentences, the logical subject is necessary or not. Somebody told me forbide+act so we can't say like that – moyeea Aug 05 '16 at 21:20
  • This question fits better on our sister site, [ell.se], a question and answer site for speakers of other languages learning English. Be sure to read their posting policy before posting your question there. (more) – MetaEd Aug 05 '16 at 21:21
  • You can delete the original question. Because I didn't get any answer... This one is simplified, just this expression – moyeea Aug 05 '16 at 21:22
  • I have no idea what "forbid+act" is supposed to mean. As to the subjects of gerunds, they can be either possessive (his smoking) or objective (him smoking). They're deletable in all of your examples -- his mother forbade going out, wearing tiny skirts is forbidden, (both indefinite subjects) and I don't mind smoking here (with A-Equi). Gerund subjects are not, however, allowed in the last example. Equi is a deletion rule, and it applies when its conditions are met, as they are in the last example. – John Lawler Aug 05 '16 at 22:36

2 Answers2

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Yes, we can; it's very nice style, too.

Source: I, who write and read a lot of good English

P.S. You can add "my" to that sentence but it sounds a bit contrived. Might sound less so with "my own."

SAH
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  • Thanks very much for your help!But my grammar book told me...forbade should be followed by an act(women's wearing skirts is a fact not an act..That really confused me)And there is a defference between these two sentences: To do your task is remembered. Doing your task is remembered Am I right? – moyeea Aug 05 '16 at 21:52
  • @moyeea I think that since the "women's" in "women's wearing skirts" is subordinate to "wearing skirts" (and can therefore be elided), "women's wearing skirts" still counts as an act. As for your second question--the question is very good but the example is bad; I would use "smoking inside is forbidden"/"to smoke inside is forbidden" (or even "rather than go to the store, [...]"/"rather than going to the store, [...]"--it's very subtle; I think native English speakers use them mostly interchangeably, although the gerund in -ing is more common. I know I've seen rules discussing their usage + – SAH Aug 05 '16 at 22:08
  • [...] (you might Google "use of gerund vs. infinitive" or similar) but I don't know exactly what these are, and there might be some disagreement about them even among grammar authorities. (I do know that parallelism is preferred, i.e.: "Rather than go to the store, he decided to go home" is better than "Rather than going to the store, he decided to go home".) In any case, it seems to me one can speak a very high level of English without worrying much about this distinction. – SAH Aug 05 '16 at 22:12
  • Thanks very much for your help! But can we say : Shouting loudly is a good activity to release yourself ! This one is Ok? – moyeea Aug 05 '16 at 22:57
  • Throw away your grammar book. It's lying to you. What kind of complement a verb takes is not determined by the semantics of the complement but by the nature of the verb. In fact, forbid takes a B-Equi infinitive complement much more often than a gerund. They forbade him to film on their property – John Lawler Aug 05 '16 at 23:31
  • Thanks very much！But can we say：Nowadays，playing games is also a kind of sport. In the future，playing golf on the Mars will be a kind of sport. – moyeea Aug 06 '16 at 08:00
  • "Shouting loudly is a good activity to release yourself !" "Nowadays，playing games is also a kind of sport. In the future，playing golf on the Mars will be a kind of sport." -- The use of gerunds in all three of these sentences is correct. However, other parts of the sentences are not very idiomatic. – SAH Aug 24 '16 at 00:24
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A gerund e.g wearing (of skirts) is a noun, and they behave more or less in the same way as other nouns. E.g. they can be qualified by adjectives, possessive pronouns etc.

David Beckham's wearing of a sarong was unusual for a footballer, and some felt that it reflected his being comfortably in touch with female as well as male characteristics in his personality.

WS2
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  • Wearing of a sarong is a noun, and not a gerund. A gerund would have a direct object (no of). And real gerunds can be modified by adverbs, not adjectives. Wearing a sarong gracefully is a difficult skill for a footballer to master. – John Lawler Aug 05 '16 at 22:50
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    Thanks very much for your help! But can we say : Shouting loudly is a good activity to release yourself ! ?This sentence makes sense? – moyeea Aug 05 '16 at 22:59
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    @JohnLawler Interesting! Had I simply missed out the of - would that have made wearing into a gerund? I think I see your point about adverbs. I could say Frequent wearing of a sarong is not recommended, but Frequently wearing a sarong he was the toast of all the ladies at the club. – WS2 Aug 05 '16 at 23:25
  • The frequent wearing of a sarong ... _ = noun ~ _Frequently wearing a sarong ... = verb. This is apparent from the contrast between "frequent" (adjective) and "frequently" (adverb) and between of a sarong (PP) and a sarong (NP - object) – BillJ Aug 06 '16 at 06:58
  • Thanks very much about the defination. But how to say the next：I spent three days on horse-riding or I spent three days in horse-riding？（horse-riding is a noun right？） – moyeea Aug 06 '16 at 08:04
  • @moyeea. I spent three days horse-riding. – WS2 Aug 06 '16 at 08:51
  • Thank you very much！But normally horse-riding is a compound noun right？You can say carful horse-riding.But not Horse -riding carefully right？I spent three days going horse-riding. Is this the best one？ – moyeea Aug 06 '16 at 18:16
  • And we can say： I spent 100 dollars on my suit. And you can say： I spent 100 dollars wearing this suit. But it is strange if you say，I spent 100 dollars the wearing of this suit I'm looking forward for your help！ – moyeea Aug 06 '16 at 18:57
  • @moyeea You would probably benefit more from the English Language Learners site, whilst you continue to grasp these grammatical forms. – WS2 Aug 07 '16 at 07:44