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/lit/ - Literature

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10848708 No.10848708 [Reply] [Original]

>reading Lolita, page 37 (chapter 8)
>weird phrasing appears
>"despite my patiently describing to her America"
>???

Shouldn't it be "despite *me* patiently describing to her America"?

>> No.10848724

>>10848708
It is “despite my”, like “despite my efforts”

>> No.10848730

>>10848708
No, because it’s saying that it was his description, not just him in the act of describing

>> No.10848731

I've long since forgotten the technical terms for grammar to explain this, but saying "me" would make this caveman speak. "My" here is possessive, showing who the "describing" belongs to. You wouldn't say "Me description", you would say "My description."

>> No.10848743

>>10848731
I think OP is think of an action. Honestly I think “Despite me” could work if it was present tense

>> No.10848751

>>10848731
"despite me doing this or that" is very usual, at least today
but both work and "despite my doing this or that" sounds better becuase of the caveman effect you mentioned

>> No.10848754

>>10848743
That would make the rest of the sentence wrong.
>Despite me patiently describing to her America
Now he's describing something to "her America", not to "her." It would need to be changed to
>Despite me patiently describing America to her

>> No.10848761

>>10848730
Would "despite my patiently describing of America to her" have the same meaning? "Describing" is a noun here, right?

>> No.10848763

>>10848761
you don't "describe of something", you just "describe something"

>> No.10848814

>>10848731
>>10848754
>>10848763
I'm trying to wrap my head around this, as it sounds awkward to me. Either "my" it's somehow used as a pronoun and not a possessive or "describing" it's used as a noun. I'm going to just think of it as "despite my patient description of America to her".

>> No.10848876
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10848876

>>10848814
"Describe" becomes a gerund when you add "-ing" to it, and instead of a verb, functions as a noun - "his running", "her snickering", "their touching". As a noun/gerund, it requires a possessive. HOWEVER, language evolves, and now "Despite me [gerund] is totally accepted", but only in this specific use case. "My [gerund] still holds as the rule, as in "My hiking is difficult".

Hope this helped!

>> No.10849035

>>10848876
Thanks, anon! I get it now.

>> No.10850810

>>10848708
he was not a native english speaker

>> No.10852354

>>10848876
This.

'Describing' is not a verb here, but a verbal noun (called a 'gerund'). Hence it can be possessed with 'my'.

Fucking plebs in this thread. Jesus fuck.