0

How to Deal with Your First Week in a New Job, By Joel Golby, Vice.

This is a good time to get IT over to set you up with a printer, to give the illusion of you having work to do but not being able to do any because you can’t print yet.

Is the pattern in bold idiomatic? I haven't found this one in dictionaries or on Corpus of Contemporary American English. Is "the illusion that you have" better? Would the following be idiomatic?

When you reassure people by saying that everything will be okay, it creates the illusion of you being in control of the situation.

Improve this question
4
  • english-corpora.org/coca illusion of [verb] Commented Jun 30 at 15:13
  • 2
    Both forms are idiomatic and equivalent. Commented Jun 30 at 18:19
  • 1
    The second can also be "the illusion that you're in control" Commented Jun 30 at 18:20
  • 1
    Yes these are all idiomatic in all forms of English. Commented Jun 30 at 18:24

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

The pattern is

the illusion of {something}.

where {something} is a phrase with that can be understood as a nominal.

the illusion of snow

the illusion of movement

the illusion of permanence

the illusion of having nothing up your sleeve

Some people would say the possessive is required with the gerund/participle if the desired expression is a nominal, to be the object of of:

...the illusion of your having...

not "you having", but others would say of

... the illusion of you having...

that you is the required nominal, and the non-finite participial clause having... is a postmodifier of you or a complement of you.

This is a picture of me climbing the monkey-bars when I was four.

We will use AI to give the illusion of you climbing the monkey-bars as a modern-day Hercules as a newborn infant.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Start asking to get answers

Find the answer to your question by asking.

Ask question

Explore related questions

See similar questions with these tags.