Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[ivygreen]

Could you tell me why "- ing" can be used in this sentence?

"He requested having his proposal accepted instead of her."

[buddhaheart]

�Request� is a transitive verb. It�s used with an object. �having his proposal accepted instead of hers" is the object of the verb �request�. The object is usually a noun, noun phrase or pronoun. The object of this sentence is a noun phrase. To form a noun phrase with �have�, you either have to change to its present participle �having� or an infinitive �to have�.

In this case, the infinitive is more appropriate. The sentence should read "He requested to have his proposal accepted instead of hers."

[ivygreen]

Thank you so much for your answering. It's very concise and I could understand well.