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(1) "But maybe the fear in his eyes" "Is him expecting otherwise." I understand it is not grammatically correct (indirect object) but please provide more info as to why it's not.

A grammar expert said (1) is ok to use in a poem because ok to bend the rules. Who agrees?

(2) "But maybe the fear in his eyes" "Is he's expecting otherwise." seems grammatically correct but does not have the same meaning as (1) because it implies the expectation is causing the fear and I want the fear to instead be equated with being the expectation instead of caused by it (as I believe (1) does.)

(3) "But maybe the fear in his eyes" "Is his expecting otherwise."

Like 1, implies an equating relationship (though perhaps not as well as (1) does...) but is it grammatically correct?

The grammar expert suggested using (3) but suggested I not use 2 (though he did not say it was grammatically incorrect). I see nothing wrong grammatically with (2). But I don't want to use 2 because it is not "poetic".

So the question now is, is (3) grammatically correct?

Seems to me "is his expecting otherwise" is using a possessive form (such as in "the reason is his shirt is too bright") and thus for it to be grammatically correct would have to be "the reason is his expectation is otherwise" which does not work poetically.

If "is his expecting otherwise" is correct, then why is "The reason she's given up drinking alcohol is her having a baby" not correct?

He / she, him /her, he / her.

Is the answer something to do with there being 3 masculine pronouns and only 2 feminine? And why is there one more masculine than feminine anyway?

Thanks.

Gary
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  • Hello and thanks. It doesn't but that may be because I'm not understanding it. So from what I can tell it's suggesting something different, that (1) him and (3) his are correct and that it's (2) he that's not: [39] i. She resented his/him/*he being invited to open the debate." But I don't want to spend time on (2) because it's not what I want to use. Want to send this out today using either (1) or (3). Can you help me which is grammatically correct? Thanks. – Gary Jun 25 '20 at 20:01
  • In short, both (1) his and (3) him can precede expecting. They are both grammatical, but have a slightly different nuance—as explained in the answer to the linked question. Many years ago, it used to be that you would have to use the subject form (his), but language use has changed, and that's no longer the case. – Jason Bassford Jun 25 '20 at 20:18
  • I read the link again to find the "nuance" that you spoke of and only saw one being genitive (his) and the other accusative (him). But for me the nuance is "maybe the fear in his eyes is him expecting otherwise" equates the fear with his expectation (what I want) whereas "maybe the fear in his eyes is his expecting otherwise" suggests I'd be trying to say instead "the fear in his eyes is because he is expecting otherwise". So... in conclusion. I can stick with "But maybe the fear in his eyes is him expecting otherwise" and know I'm grammatically correct, right? Thanks. – Gary Jun 25 '20 at 21:04
  • I was referring to this: "In other words, gerunds (as in example 39i) can take either the genitive (his) or the accusative (him) as subject, with genitive being more formal and accusative less formal." In short, it's now essentially a matter of style rather than grammar. – Jason Bassford Jun 25 '20 at 22:46

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