DD,
   It would be routine NOT to have a comma between "him" and "coming" in a
sentence like "We are happy to have him coming." I know this came up on
the list before, but the comma would raise the possibility that
"coming" refers back to "we."
   I have been paying attention to these sentences since our earlier
conversation and the contention that the participle could not refer
back without being a "dangling participle." Here are examples from "The
Best American Essays" and two of my favorite writers.

John McPhee: "I sat there watching the play through my telescope, drawing
as many guffaws from the surrounding audience as the comedy on stage."

Annie Dillard: "He was off; he climbed high over the airport in his
biplane, very high until he was barely visible as a mote, and then seemed
to fall down the air, diving headlong and streaming beauty in spirals
behind him."

Other examples from McPhee: (Coming Into the Country))

    "This time, we flew north, low over the river, upstream, looking for
the glint of the canoe."

    "Finally, he made a sharp southward turn and began to follow a stream
course in the direction of its current, looking for a gravel bar, a
man, a canoe."

    "If I wanted to I could always see disaster running with the river,
dancing like a shadow, moving down the forest from tree to tree."

from Alex Kotlowitz (There are no Children Here): "I spent the summer at
Henry Horner, playing basketball with the kids, going to lunch with them,
talkking with their parents, and just hanging out."

According to Biber et. al., these construction are more common in writing
than in speech. I would venture that they are a mark of sophistication and
maturity, not "informal" and certainly not mistakes.

Craig

>

 At 04:35 PM 1/18/2009, Karl Hagen wrote:
>>As far as I know, even pedants (and least grammatically savvy pedants)
>> would
>>not prefer "his coming" in this particular context. Even in the most
>> fussy
>>traditional grammar, there has always been a place for "him coming" and
>> the
>>like, depending on the context. . . .
>
> DD I agree, but you need to stick a pause in there for the "him
> coming." In other word insert a comma. Just my unlearned opinion. How
> think you better trained?
>
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