Expression: "My husband keeps on about me having a baby"

[Tom]

Hi

I have taken the following sentence from an Indian movie. Do you find it complete?

"My husband keeps on about me having a baby."

I think it should be:

...keeps on talking about me...

Tom

[stew.t.]

Hi Tom

The phrase is not refering to her specifically having a baby,
but when you
"keep on about sth" you do not stop talking about the subject to the point where it gets annoying.

So the husband keeps talking about having a baby in general.
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[Pamela]

Hi Tom
I agree with stew t on the meaning of this expression. My interpretation:her husband keeps continually dinning in her ears about having a baby

[Mister Micawber]

.
And I would change 'me' to 'my' if you use this in an essay.
.
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[stew.t.]

Hi

Maybe this is a diff. between American and British English the use of "my" would imply that you already have a baby, and "me" is for the future. As for the essay you could use "us".

However for essays sake and clarity:

My husband keeps putting pressure on me to have a baby.

But movie wise "me" and "us" is ok. As a side "us" is often used as a replacement for me in Northern English. So we say.

Give us a ring.
instead of
Give me a ring
when we want someone to telephone.
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[Yankee]

Hi Tom

Here is my two cents:

"Keep on about something" means "talk continually and repetitively about something". "Nag" or "harp on" might be good synonyms here.

There is no difference in meaning between "me having a baby" and "my having a baby" and both versions are used. I would understand both versions of the sentence to mean that he is putting pressure on her to have a baby in the future. Possibly the sentence could also mean he talks endlessly about the fact that she is going to have a baby in the future (i.e. maybe she's already pregnant and he's not happy about that). And it's also theoretically possible that the sentence might mean he is putting some kind of pressure on her because she already has a baby. The precise meaning depends on the broader context.

Prescriptive grammars generally tell you, however, that the only "correct" version of your sentence would be with "my".

Amy

[Alan]

Hi Tom,

I think it's worth pointing out that 'me' and 'my' + the 'ing' form can indicate a different emphasis. The use of the pronoun accentuates that it is the person and the use of the possessive adjective points more to the activity. In this sentence: I'm surprised at you doing that means my surprise is that it was you rather than somebody else. I'm surprised at your doing that means my surprise is directed at your activity.

A
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