At 08:23 AM 11/30/2008, Craig Hancock {N.B. this was not Craig's sentence. He was responding to it.} wrote: >. . . "I slipped my backpack off, and we sat down at one >of the metal tables overlooking the pool, with him sipping his Mountain >Dew and me groping for pen and paper." . . . DD: Try what seems to me to be more correct; treat the '...ings' as gerunds and stick in the possessive pronouns. "...his sipping . . .my groping . . ." I am not a skilled grammarian, but it also sounds correct to leave out the 'with' and change the pronouns to the nominatives as subjects. ". . . pool, he sipping . . . I groping . . ." To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/