Due to + pronoun + ing

Question

Is it okay to write:

The king didn't approve of her relationship with the prince due to her coming from a poor family.

I found the same phrase in a book from Google books from an actor that seemed to be American.

The question is whether I can have a pronoun followed by a gerund after "due to" in that sentence or not.

Here's the link.

Did you mean to post a link to search results? Do you have a link to the book? Also, I believe this is a possible duplicate/related: When to use an object pronoun or a possessive adjective before a gerund. — Em., Nov 25 '19 at 03:20
What do you think the sentence should say instead? The question linked above isn't very relevant because her is used both as an object pronoun, as well as a possessive one, and so the case issue is obviated. Compare: his ball vs. *her ball; I like him* vs. I like her**. — , Nov 25 '19 at 03:40

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 29 '20 at 23:52

Yes, it is okay and correct to say that.

due to X means because of X, so X is the reason for something. Because you're describing a reason, you need something that functions as a noun. "Coming from a poor family" can function as a noun, such as in the following sentences:

Coming from a poor family gave John a keen appreciation for hard work.

There is no shame in coming from a poor family.

Mary's success in the business world shows that coming from a poor family doesn't mean you can't achieve great things.

How that we've seen that "coming from a poor family" can function as a noun, let's do a little experiment and actually replace it with a noun - e.g. "circumstances". Whose circumstances are we talking about? Her circumstances. So if we now undo the substitution we made, we end up with her coming from a poor family.

Plugging that back into the original sentence you provided, you get:

The king didn't approve of her relationship with the prince due to her circumstances.

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The king didn't approve of her relationship with the prince due to her coming from a poor family.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 25 '19 at 21:29

Possessive pronouns are a type of determiner that can be used with nouns. Gerunds, being noun-ish, work with them as well.

This doesn't apply to infinitives or participles.

Due to her coming late, we all missed the show.

We avoided the sidewalk being worked on and walked a different way (can't use possessive pronoun).

I wanted to walk to the park. (can't use possessive pronoun)

I wanted her to walk to the park. (English is being tricky here, her is an object pronoun and not a possessive pronoun)

Due to + pronoun + ing

2 Answers2