gerund or participle

English grammar and usage issues

Moderator: Joe

Lone
Member
Posts: 8
Joined: 06 Sep 2018, 04:10
Status: Teacher

gerund or participle

Unread post by Lone »

He won’t tolerate anyone questioning his decisions.

In the above sentence, is 'questioning' a gerund (as part of the object of the verb 'tolerate')?
Or is it a participle, modifying the pronoun 'anyone'?
MartynW
Member
Posts: 1
Joined: 15 Feb 2020, 11:51
Status: Teacher

Re: gerund or participle

Unread post by MartynW »

I would say a gerund. The basic sense is 'he won't tolerate questioning' rather than 'he won't tolerate anyone'.

Some traditionalists might say that a gerund should always be preceded by a possessive, e.g. 'he won't tolerate your questioning his decisions' or 'he won't tolerate John's questioning...', but when the noun/pronoun is not personal, as in this case, it's definitely OK not to use the possessive because the result sounds unnatural, i.e. 'He won't tolerate anyone's questioning his decisions.'
Post Reply