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The conversation eventually makes its way around to him wanting to switch and do something new.

Is "wanting" in the sentence considered as a gerund or present participle?

Velvet
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  • Trad grammar calls it a gerund, functioning as predicator in the clause him wanting to switch and do something new, functioning as complement to the preposition "to". But nowadays we don't usually distinguish present participles and gerunds, but simply call both ing forms 'gerund-participles'. Thus him wanting to switch and do something new is a gerund-participial clause. "Want" is a catenative verb and the coordination of infinitival clauses to switch and do something new are its catenative complements. – BillJ Apr 17 '19 at 17:15
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    @BillJ: Speak for yourself, please. *We* do not all follow your terminological habits, and they are by no means general. – John Lawler Apr 18 '19 at 16:04
  • @JohnLawler I could say the same to you. My terminology is based on H&P's award-winning CGEL, the leading grammar today, not on some long-out-dated grammar. – BillJ Apr 18 '19 at 16:14
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    CGEL is a good grammar, but hardly standard. Nor all that new, either. Big, though, I'll grant you. I follow McCawley, which is about the same vintage, though not quite so voluminous. We all, of course, have own own favorite terms, and our own publications show how we use them. – John Lawler Apr 18 '19 at 16:50
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    Plus ça change.... Possible duplicate of When is a gerund supposed to be preceded by a possessive adjective/determiner? (though 'his parents dream of him achieving a Cambridge degree ...' is closer). – Edwin Ashworth May 18 '19 at 11:13

3 Answers3

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The clause

  • him wanting to switch and do something new

is a gerund complement, a noun clause that is the object of the preposition to,
which in turn is part of the idiomatic construction

  • make its way around to.

The subject of the gerund clause is him (it could also be his; both are correct),
and the gerund verb is of course wanting (the verb form of the gerund is the
present participle, not to be confused with participial constructions).

The direct object of wanting (gerunds can have direct objects) is another
complement clause, this one made up of two conjoined infinitives:

  • to switch and to do something new.
John Lawler
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Labeling wanting either a gerund or a participle will get you nowhere. Instead, all you want to know is that the bracketed portion constitutes a non-finite clause:

The conversation eventually makes its way around to [him wanting to switch and do something new].

JK2
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    who said anything about getting anywhere? this is not an answer. – Toothrot Apr 17 '19 at 17:49
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    @Toothrot I did, in case you didn't notice. Your answer says it's a gerund and that a gerund is a "substantive," which a dictionary defines as 'a noun or broadly a word or word group functioning syntactically as a noun'. Now, wanting is not a noun or a word functioning syntactically as a noun however broadly you slice it. It's a non-finite verb and the head of the bracketed non-finite clause. – JK2 Apr 18 '19 at 01:47
  • Which is a noun clause, as noted. Of course wanting is a verb. But folks have been told (even here on ELU.SE) that a gerund is a verb that's being used as a noun. Which is nonsense, of course. – John Lawler Apr 26 '21 at 19:25
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You have a participle here:

The conversation eventually makes its way around to him wanting to switch and do something new.

= The conversation eventually makes its way around to him, who wants to switch and do something new.

In case it was a Gerund, the form of the pronoun would be "his" as the Gerund is a so called "verbal noun".

According to Oxford English Dictionary

"Participles of verbs are often used to introduce subordinate clauses, which give extra information about the main part of a sentence (known as the main clause).

It’s important to use participles in subordinate clauses correctly. The participle should always describe an action performed by the subject of the main part of the sentence.

For example:

Mrs Stevens,opening the door quietly,came into the room.   In this sentence, the present participle (opening) in the subordinate clause refers to the subject of the main clause.

Mrs Stevens is both opening the door and coming into the room."  

user307254
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