Gerund or noun: I was surprised at John's quick recovering.

[Akasaka]

Hi everybody.

Please look at the following sentence.

I was surprised at John's quick recovering.

I know I had better use "recovery" here. But does this sentence sound funny if I use "recovering"? "Recovering" here means recovering from a cold or something.

Thanks in advance.

 

[l3376876]

A gerund can be used as a "noun," so here recovering is both a gerund and a noun. It sounds good for me, and it could mean "recovering from a cold and a lot of things" in this context.

 

[Ari's Student]

Although either choice would be technically correct, I believe the most common choice would be "recovery."

 

[JamesM]

Hi everybody.

Please look at the following sentence.

I was surprised at John's quick recovering.

I know I had better use "recovery" here. But does this sentence sound funny if I use "recovering"? "Recovering" here means recovering from a cold or something.

Thanks in advance.

It sounds odd to me. I would use "recovery" here. I can't think of a natural-sounding way to use "recovering" in a similar sentence without turning it into a verb.

 

[Giordano Bruno]

It sounds odd to me. I would use "recovery" here. I can't think of a natural-sounding way to use "recovering" in a similar sentence without turning it into a verb.

How about
"I was surprised at John's recovering so quickly."

 

[Dimcl]

It sounds odd to me. I would use "recovery" here. I can't think of a natural-sounding way to use "recovering" in a similar sentence without turning it into a verb.

I second that.

 

[JamesM]

How about
"I was surprised at John's recovering so quickly."

I would say, "I was surprised that John recovered so quickly" or "I was surprised at John recovering so quickly", although it still sounds a little awkward to me the second way. "John's recovering" sounds like a re-upholstering business.

 

[l3376876]

How about
1. "I was surprised at John's recovering so quickly."

I see eye to eye with you. I overlooked the adjective "quick" used before recovering in the original post. On second thought, if "quick" is used, I think "recovery" fits better here, that is,
2. I was surprised at John's quick recovery.

Btw, sentence 1. derives from two simple sentences:
3. I was surprised at something.
4. John was recovering so quiclkly.

If we try to combine 3. and 4., we have to turn sentence 4. into a noun phrase so as to be the "object" of the preposition "at." Odd as sentence 1. may sound, it's absolutely grammatically correct.

 

[Akasaka]

Thank you for helping me. Now I know which is better.

 

[emma42]

"John's quick recovering" sounds 14th/15th century to me. Correct, but archaic, I'd say.

 

[cuchuflete]

I agree with all the native speakers. It may be grammatically correct to say recovering, but it is not idiomatic. In other words, it sounds odd, unaccustomed, strange, and somehow "wrong" to native ears.

I would probably say it one of these ways:

I was surprised at John's quick recovery.

I was surprised that John had recovered so quickly.

I was surprised at John's having recovered so quickly.

John's quick recovery surprised me.

 

[l3376876]

I agree with all the native speakers. It may be grammatically correct to say recovering, but it is not idiomatic. In other words, it sounds odd, unaccustomed, strange, and somehow "wrong" to native ears.

I would probably say it one of these ways:

I was surprised at John's quick recovery.

I was surprised that John had recovered so quickly.

I was surprised at John's having recovered so quickly.

John's quick recovery surprised me.

Touch'e!

 

[l3376876]

I agree with all the native speakers. It may be grammatically correct to say recovering, but it is not idiomatic. In other words, it sounds odd, unaccustomed, strange, and somehow "wrong" to native ears.

I would probably say it one of these ways:

I was surprised at John's quick recovery.

I was surprised that John had recovered so quickly.

I was surprised at John's having recovered so quickly.

John's quick recovery surprised me.

Touch'e