Verbal Noun - Specification of The Agent

Specification of The Agent

Being non-finite verb forms, verbal nouns do not usually have subjects, and thus the performer of the denoted action (the agent) is often not specified. However it is generally possible to specify the agent if desired, using methods which depend on the type of verbal noun and the grammar of the language in question.

In English the following methods are available for expressing the agent with various types of verbal noun:

• A to-infinitive may be preceded by a prepositional phrase introduced by for, referring to the agent, as in It would be nice for the flowers to stand here. (This is not possible in all grammatical contexts; for example, one can say I want to run, but not *I want for him to run; here the required syntax is I want him to run.)
• With a gerund, the agent may be expressed using a possessive adjective: my arriving; John's entering the competition. In colloquial English it is common to use a simple noun or pronoun instead, but this is sometimes considered ungrammatical; see fused participle.
• With a pure verbal noun, the agent may be expressed by a prepositional phrase with by (as is also done in the case of the passive voice), or by a possessive. For example, one can say the killing of the president by Oswald, or Oswald's killing of the president. In fact both agent and patient (object) can alternatively be expressed with possessives and with of phrases, although the possessive is more common for the agent, and of for the patient (if both are used, as in the last example, then the possessive unambiguously denotes the agent).