gerunds

   are verbs made to function as nouns, as with the italicized words in "I don't like dancing and 11 Cooking is an art." Two problems commonly arise with gerunds.

   1. Sometimes the gerund is unnecessarily set off by an article and a preposition, as here: "They said that the valuing of the paintings could take several weeks" (Daily Telegraph). Deleting the italicized words would make the sentence shorter and more forceful.

   2. When a possessive noun or pronoun (called a genitive) qualifies a gerund, a common type of construction is "They objected to him coming." Properly it should be "They objected to his coming." Similarly, "There is little hope of Smith gaining admittance to the club" should be "There is little hope of Smith's gaining admittance ..."

   The possessive form is, in short, the preferred form, especially with proper nouns and personal pronouns. For Fowler (who treated the matter under the heading "fused participle"), the possessive was virtually the only form. He insisted, for instance, on "We cannot deny the possibility of anything's happening" and "This will result in many s having to go into lodgings." Most other authorities regard this as a Fowler idiosyncrasy, and the rigor of that position was quietly and sensibly abandoned in the third (and most recent) edition.