Informal (accusative) formal (possessive)

/ can't imagine my mother approving¹ my mother's approving'
Please excuse him not writing to you his not writing to you
Fancy you having noticed' your having noticed'

The 's can be included or omitted with people's names: / can't understand John/John's making such a fuss

However, with more than one name 's is unlikely: / can't imagine Frank and Mabel paying so much for a piano

Adjectives and nouns + '-ing' form

Form of '-ing' after adjectives and nouns

Many adjectives, nouns and expressions can be followed by -ing forms active and passive [> 16.41], e.g. It's nice seeing him again, It's fun being taken to the zoo. Contrasting negatives, e.g. not fun having to, fun not having to [> 16.14] are possible.

The -ing' form with adjectives

Like the to-infinitive, the -ing form (gerund) can be used as the subject of a sentence and can be replaced by a construction with

Prepositions + '-ing' form

'preparatory if [> 4.13]. There is not much difference in meaning

between -ing and the to infinitive: -ing may refer to an action in

progress, whereas the to-infinitive may imply 'in general':

It's difficult finding your way around in a strange city

It's difficult to find your way around in a strange city

We rarely begin statements with the to-infinitive but often begin with

-ing, particularly when we are making general statements:

Finding work is difficult these days Wind-surfing is popular Compare the -ing form (participle) [> 1.58] after adjectives such as bored, busy, fed-up, frantic, happy, occupied and tired with a personal subject (Not *If*):

Sylvia is frantic getting everything ready for the wedding (= Sylvia is frantic. She is getting everything ready...)

Adjectives can be followed by the accusative (me, you, him, etc.) or the possessive (my, his, John's, etc.):

It's strange him/his behaving like that Normally only a possessive is possible when -ing begins a sentence:

His knowing I had returned home unexpectedly is strange

Either -ing or a to-infinitive can follow it's/it was + adjective + of (him) without much difference in meaning [> 16.27.2]:

It was rude of her interrupting (to interrupt) you all the time