Ask About English Q35: 'a gerund'

Hi,

Can you explain the grammar in this sentence:

"his destroying the tv was very dumb"

Thanks.

Hi,

'Destroying' in this sentence is what we call a gerund (the -ing form of a verb) and it functions as a noun.

'Destroying the tv' in this sentence is a gerund phrase, and functions as the subject of the above sentence.

As a gerund functions like a noun, a possesive pronoun (e.g. his, her, their... etc) may be used before the it to denote ownership.

Consider:

"His friend was very dumb"
(friend = noun)

"His destroying the tv was very dumb"
(destroying the tv = gerund phrase)

I hope this answers your question.

Thanks

Matt