𝔸 man buys a parrot and brings him home. But the parrot starts insulting him and getting nasty, so the man picks up the parrot and throws it into the freezer to teach him a lesson.
He hears the bird screeching for a few minutes, then total silence.
He opens the freezer door and the parrot walks out, looks up at him and says, "I’m sorry if I offended you, I humbly ask for your forgiveness."
The man says, "Well, that's okay. I forgive you."
The parrot then says, "If you don't mind my asking, what did the chicken do?"
We say, "If you don't mind my + "noun" or "verb-ing". This is because we mind something, which is why we need either a noun (something) or a gerund (something). A gerund is a verb ending in "-ing" that is used like a noun. I sometimes refer to the gerund as a "nom-verbal". Look at the following sentences. In each case both are correct English. To answer positively, we say "No, I don't", which tells the speaker that they can go ahead and smoke. If we don't want them to smoke we should say "Yes, I do". Which means "yes, I mind". Which means "Please don't smoke".
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He hears the bird screeching for a few minutes, then total silence.
He opens the freezer door and the parrot walks out, looks up at him and says, "I’m sorry if I offended you, I humbly ask for your forgiveness."
The man says, "Well, that's okay. I forgive you."
The parrot then says, "If you don't mind my asking, what did the chicken do?"
We say, "If you don't mind my + "noun" or "verb-ing". This is because we mind something, which is why we need either a noun (something) or a gerund (something). A gerund is a verb ending in "-ing" that is used like a noun. I sometimes refer to the gerund as a "nom-verbal". Look at the following sentences. In each case both are correct English. To answer positively, we say "No, I don't", which tells the speaker that they can go ahead and smoke. If we don't want them to smoke we should say "Yes, I do". Which means "yes, I mind". Which means "Please don't smoke".
| Minding a gerund | Minding a verb |
|---|---|
| Do you mind my smoking? | Do you mind if I smoke? |
| Do you mind my telling you something? | Do you mind if I tell you something? |
| Do you mind his coming with us? | Do you mind if he comes with us? |
| If you don't mind my asking... | I hope you don't mind if I ask... |
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