<p>a grammer question from the 2011 May SAT</p>
<p>In 1962 Rita Moreno gained fame and won an Academy Award for her portraying Anita in the film adaptation of the groundbreaking Broadway musical West Side Story.
"for her portraying" is considered wrong here. Why?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>for portraying Anita (her is unneccessary)</p>
<p>Why “her” is unnecessary here?</p>
<p>I am sorry for my being late. This sentence is correct, right??</p>
<p>According to your theory, this sentence can only be written as " I am sorry for being late".</p>
<p>^ yes
I am sorry for being late.</p>
<p>If you write my being late, you are saying that being late is your possession , but being late is not your possession.(unlogical statment)</p>
<p>thanks for you help, but the possession explanation seems a little bit beside the point.</p>
<p>How about these sentences?</p>
<p>I appreciate your coming to see me. (coming to see me is not your possession)</p>
<p>My helping her moved her deeply. (helping her is not my possession.)</p>
<p>I appreciate your coming to see me.</p>
<p>Here ‘‘coming’’ is the object if sentence. You are emphasizing that you appreciate the ‘‘coming’’ not the person;plus, if you say ‘‘coming’’ alone than the sentence would be ambigious. WHO’s coming ?? .</p>
<p>My helping her moved her deeply</p>
<p>I think that her(first one) is not neccessary.</p>
<p>My helping moved her deeply. This is a better sentence.
If you omit ‘‘her’’, the sentence still retains its meaning.</p>
<p>Are you taking the OCT sat ???</p>
<p>it’s grammar btw, not grammer</p>
<p>Any other explanations for this grammar question?</p>
<p>There’s nothing wrong with using the phrase “her portraying” (where “her” indicates possession) because an action belongs to the person who performs it. “I appreciate your helping me” would be correct, because the action of helping belongs to the person who does the helping. It’s equivalent to “I appreciate your act of helping me.”</p>
<p>It is enough to say “She won an award for portraying Anita” (without the “her”). This is the common form. So it sounds weird and wrong to say “She won an award for her portraying Anita.” So I guess that’s why it’s considered wrong. I dunno.</p>
<p>My explanation in a better way:</p>
<p>In 1962 Rita Moreno gained fame and won an Academy Award for her portraying Anita in the film adaptation of the groundbreaking Broadway musical West Side Story.</p>
<p>‘’ Portraying is a GERUND’’
Gerunds must have subjects(nouns they ‘‘refer’’ to).</p>
<p>When a gerund is not preceeded by a possesive pronoun or a possesive noun, then its subject(the thing it refers to) is the subject of the main verb.</p>
<p>Won is the main verb.Who won? Rita. Thus, Rita is the Subject of the gerund portraying. Rita portrayed Anita.</p>
<p>We use a possesive noun or pronoun when we want the gerund to have a different subject than the main verb’s subject.</p>
<p>Ex: Jane recalled hearing a strange voice.(In this sentence, Jane recalled ‘‘her hearing’’)
Jane recalled Tom’s hearing a strange voice(In this sentence, Jane recalled’‘Tom’s hearing’’ not ‘‘her hearing’’; thus, a possesive is neccessary)</p>
<p>If I find a better explanation in another grammar book, I will tell the explanation to you.</p>
<p>just say “her portrayal of Anita”</p>
<p>hey guys quick question, where does everyone get these recent tests? like the january 2011 test and the may 2011 test? is there a site you guys can give me or something to get these tests from?</p>
<p>I give them LOL.</p>