"I doing sth", "me doing sth", "my doing sth" as a subject or an object

Question

I'm learning English and it sometimes confuses me what constructions, either clause or gerund, are acceptable as subjects or objects.

In a question I asked previously, I asked about the grammaticality of the following four sentences:

1. [*] She doesn't like that I talked rudely to her.
2. [*] She doesn't like I talking rudely to her.
3. She doesn't like my talking rudely to her.
4. She doesn't like me talking rudely to her.

Apparently example 1 and 2 are ungrammatical. In particular, I was told that 1 is ungrammatical because the verb "like" doesn't accept a content clause. We have to add an it to make it grammatical: "She doesn't like it that I talked rudely to her." Also, it was pointed out that 4 might be ungrammatical 100 years ago according to the evidence of Ngram.

Now I wonder what the answer to a parallel question about subjects is. Consider the following four sentences:

1. [That I talked rudely] caused tension in our friendship.
2. [I talking rudely] caused tension in our friendship.
3. [My talking rudely] caused tension in our friendship.
4. [Me talking rudely] caused tension in our friendship.

My questions are

• Based on the answer to my previous question, does it mean example 3 and 4 above are grammatical?

• What is the part in the bracket technically called? Subject clause?

Answer 1

First, it is not true that BOTH versions 1 and 2 are ungrammatical. In version 1, “like” is a verb and the clause starting with “that” is the object of the verb. Only version 2 is ungrammatical.

Versions 3 and 4 are grammatical. Such sentences are usually discussed in a very unhelpful way: with “my” indicating that “speaking” is a gerund and “me” indicating that “speaking” is a participle.

There is no difference in form in English between a present participle and a gerund. It is importing into English an observable difference that exists in other languages, but it is not observable in English. It has some small value analytically, but is otherwise of minor significance.

So, it is more helpful to view the choice between “me speaking,” where analytically “speaking is a participle being used as an adjective to modify “me,” and “my speaking,” where analytically “speaking” is being used as a noun modified by “my,” as differing in emphasis. Both are grammatical, but convey slightly different nuances: the first emphasizes the actor “me” whereas the second emphasizes the action “speaking.” Neither is wrong; which is better depends on the meaning to be conveyed.

Unfortunately, when we shift attention to subjects of clauses, “I speaking” is just not idiomatic, and “me” as a subject is not grammatical. You can say “My speaking is …”, or you can say “I, when speaking, am …”. So, the difference in form between a participle used as a gerund that is a subject and a participle used an an adjective modifying a subject is more noticeable than just the difference between “me” and “my.” But both options are still grammatically possible.

In short, the choice between using a participle as a noun (a gerund) or as an adjective is not constrained by grammar. It is determined by where emphasis is to be placed, on actor or action. Grammar permits both.

EDIT: In response to a comment by the original poster, I am making this clarification to my answer.

The original poster had correctly been told that the verb “like” is transitive and requires a direct object. The original poster had also been incorrectly told that a clause cannot act as the direct object of a verb.

I see that you got a new puppy

is perfectly grammatical as is

I see you got a new puppy

Version 1 is grammatical. But what I did not point out is that what is also grammatical in American English are forms like:

I love it that …

I like it that …

I hate it that …

According to Ngram, the “it” form is less common in modern American written English:

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=I+like+that+he%2C+I+like+it+that+he&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=28&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2CI%20like%20that%20he%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CI%20like%20it%20that%20he%3B%2Cc0

My strong impression, however, is that the “it” form is far more common in speech, but that purely personal impression may be due to some peculiarity in the English of my region of the U.S.