Question

[carnageincminor]

I'm in the middle of beta-reading someone's work and I've come across this:

"He won't let it show but I know that you leaving is eating him alive."

My question concerns the you leaving part. I know the current construction is very common in dialogue but I'm not sure as to how grammatically correct it is by more formal standards (and the speaker

Comments

[linusrichard]

"He won't let it show but I know that you bulldog is eating him alive."
or
"He won't let it show but I know that your bulldog is eating him alive."

Same if the noun is "leaving," although it's not as obvious because it's a gerund.

[wanted_a_pony]

I don't know for beans about grammar, but to my ears "your leaving" sounds better. I would bobble a bit reading the sentence either way it was phrased, tho'....