A few days ago
rachel

Grammar gurus: what is the error in this sentence (if there is any)?

The men, angry about the bill, clamored around the building to prevent its being passed

i think it should be to prevent ‘it from’ being passed

but i’m not sure…

Top 10 Answers
A few days ago
Oh My God!

Favorite Answer

attend some English classes first
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A few days ago
Andy K
It is misplaced.

Suggest U rewrite as:

To prevent the bill from being passed, angry men clamored around the building.

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A few days ago
raly_sagrado
The men are angry about the bill so they clamored around the building to prevent it from being passed.

or

the angry men clamored around the building to prevent the bill from being passed

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A few days ago
Lillian T
the error is in the phrase “its being passed” where IT refers to the bill, not the building. the pronoun needs to be in closer proximity to the noun it represents so that the connection is more clear. It has to be rewritten.Something like: the building was surrounded by the men , angry about the bill and trying to prevent its passage.
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A few days ago
2kool4u
That’s a good one! At first sight it seemed OK, but you wouldn’t say “prevent his being killed.”

“Being passed” is not an actual or potential attribute of the bill but something that is done to it, consequently you wouldn’t use the genitive (possessive) case “its”.

So I think the correct form is “it being passed” (“it from being passed” may be OK as well, but I am slightly doubtful about it).

BTW in this case there is no problem about any ambiguity concerning whether it is the building or the bill that is in danger of being passed, since it is quite clear from the sentence that it is the bill that is referred to.

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A few days ago
Anonymous
To prevent the building from being passed? Totally bad sentence structure.
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A few days ago
Anonymous
The men, angry about the bill, clamoured around the building to prevent it being passed.
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A few days ago
chocolahoma
I’d prefer…

“Angry about the bill, the men clamored around the building to prevent its passage.”

Its stronger if you isolate the subordinate clause and unite the subject and predicate…

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A few days ago
Anonymous
Could be to prevent it from being passed ON. But you are right (clamoured) to prevent something from an other thing is correct grammar.
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A few days ago
silentnonrev
forget the technical term, but “its being passed” could refer to either the bill, or the building…
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