being

[guest]

The nurses went on strike to protest their being overworked.
(A) their being overworked
(B) themselves being overworked
(C) themselves as overworked
(D) their overworking
(E) overworking themselves

OA- A ..why not D
my query :
the idiom is protest against - there is no against
why not D

[JonathanSchneider]

You can use the form "protest against," as in: "We protested against the war." However, this is not the only way that we can use the word "protest." It is perfectly fine to also say: "We protest the factory conditions."

[ikumaran]

protest against - seems redundant... So protest alone does the job.. correct me if i am wrong...

[JonathanSchneider]

I'd agree, Ikumaran.

You might be more likely to see "protest against" where "protest" is a noun, as in:

"The students held a protest against the war."

[netcaesar]

2 questions:

What is the difference between A and D?

In which cases being can be a correct answer?

I thought that in 99% being is wrong

[Dinesh]

Clearly, they are not overworking on their own volition (as they are protesting that). They are being overworked by their employers hence, the correct answer is A and not D.

[JonathanSchneider]

Well said, Dinesh. Moreover, note that every choice other than A has some flaw. "Being" is a commonly misused word on this test; but it is not always wrong. "Being" is often a marker that a choice is incorrect merely because it is unnecessary. Many choices with "being" could actually just drop that work and be fine.

For example, consider the sentence:

"Being accustomed to earthquakes, residents of San Francisco..."

You could easily drop the "being" to start with:

"Accustomed to earthquakes, residents of San Francisco..."

This is how "being" is most often used incorrectly. In this sense the error is more of a concision error (check Chapter One of our newest SC guide), in that you have an unneeded form of the verb "to be" (here just the participle).

[abparida]

Is not "their being overworked" incorrect? "Their" is a a possessive pronoun and hence should not be used with "being". Please correct me if I am wrong. Thought "they being overworked" is correct e.g "you are being nice to me", "they are being harsh on him" etc.

[JonathanSchneider]

Be careful here. "Being" is an -ing form, and -ing forms can do four different things:

1) part of a verb -- needs to be coupled with some form of "to be" -- makes the verb progressive
2) a noun, or gerund
3) a participle adjective
4) a participle adverb

You seem to be confusing the first two here. "Their being overworked" is okay, because the "being overworked" is actually a noun, or gerund.

[selva.e]

being overworked - here represents verb isn't it?

their being overworked -

their - nurses
being overworked - verb

To make more sense,

The nurses went on strike to protest nurses being overworked.

how can "being overworked." be noun here..

please shed some lights

[esledge]

To selva.e:

First, being is only a verb when a helping verb precedes it. In these examples, being is used as a verb:
The nurses are being overworked.
Nurses were being overworked until they finally went on strike.
Nurses have been being overworked since the earliest days of medicine.

Being cannot be a verb on its own, without a helping verb--in such a case, being will be one of the other forms of speech listed above.

Secondly, consider the implication of the possessive pronoun their. Their is always followed by a noun, a thing that can be possessed:
Their house was on fire.
We visited their house before the fire.
Their singing has improved with much practice.
Their bland cooking has grown more flavorful with the addition of fresh herbs.

Together, these facts lead to the following breakdown of the sentence:
The nurses = Subject
went on strike = Verb
to protest = Verb infinitive
their being overworked = Object

[syflysun1]

their being overworked = Object,
here, we use "being" to emphasis that the object is present or that the object is passive, or both?

[RonPurewal]

their being overworked = Object,
here, we use "being" to emphasis that the object is present or that the object is passive, or both?

"being" is required here because this is a passive-voice construction. the nurses are being overworked (by their employers). they are the recipient, not the agent, of the action; the agent is unimportant in the sentence. the only way to express this sort of idea, without unnecessarily diverting attention toward the agent, is to use the passive voice.

at this point, then, it's simply proper grammatical construction.
* we require a gerund here, since "protest" takes an object with a noun form (gerunds act as nouns).
* this gerund must be "being", since it's in the passive voice.

so there's no matter of "emphasis" here; it's a simple matter of right vs. wrong.
hope that helps.