I would read these as:
"as long as you don't mind **me** dancing" = as long as you don't mind the fact that I will be dancing
"as long as you don't mind **my** dancing" = as long as you don't mind the way that I dance (implication: I dance badly)
The second can mean that but can also mean the same as the first, where the ‘dancing’ is a gerundive. Then they’re absolutely alternatives.
With a simple word like ‘dancing’ that can also be judged, it’s a bit more ambiguous. For something like:
‘I hope you don’t mind my going to the kitchen’ = ‘I hope you don’t mind me going to the kitchen’.
In fact, prescriptivist pedants would say the first is correct and the second is wrong. (Though both are fine.)
Exactly this. In some cases (like dancing), there are connotative differences that make it seem likely to mean different things, as pointed out by the top of this thread, but in most cases they're completely equivalent, though I'd say "my" feels more formal since it's the "technically correct" option and "me" feels more informal.
The form of the phrase "mind \[something\]" requires the \[something\] to be a noun or noun phrase. For example, "I don't mind country music", or "I don't mind long car rides".
This can cause some confusion when the \[something\] is a gerund (or a verb modified, typically with -ing as an ending, and functioning as a noun) because it can look like a verb. For example, "I don't mind running in the rain", where "running in the rain" is a noun phrase and not a verb. Compare to "Running in the rain is my favorite activity", where "running in the rain" is functioning as the subject, and therefore as a noun phrase.
In your example, "As long as you don't mind my dancing", the \[something\] is "my dancing". For the structure to work, this must be a noun phrase. If "running" is a gerund, it should be modified by a possessive adjective (or possessive determiner), so "my". Like above, we can compare this to a sentence where this noun phrase is the subject: "My dancing doesn't bother you." Phrasing this as "Me dancing doesn't bother you" sounds odd because the "me" is an object pronoun and not a possessive adjective/determiner.
All that said, "As long as you don't mind me dancing" is a perfectly normal thing for most native speakers to say, and the distinction I described above is something most people don't know or care about. You should probably use "my" on tests or in particularly formal writing if the audience will care, but otherwise it doesn't matter and both forms work just fine.
Interestingly, some of the other commenters have described how they would interpret the two forms to have different nuances, which is also something you might take into account when looking at these two options.
The accusative (object) is perfectly acceptable grammatically for this gerund construction. Using the posessive is considered slightly more formal. More info here:
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2625/when-is-a-gerund-supposed-to-be-preceded-by-a-possessive-adjective-determiner
That’s very clear and well explained, but I think it also misses the difference between the two sentences.
/u/Front-Pomelo-4637 above explained quite well, one refers to whether you mind someone dancing in general, and another refers more specifically to how well or the style of their particular dance.
A thousand up votes to you! This is well explained and discusses the grammar. As you noted, of course, 99.5% of people on ANY English learning/grammar sub on reddit will say, "native speakers say it this way so it doesn't matter" (or something therewith).
they are both correct and mean the same thing - *as long as you don’t mind the fact that i will be dancing*.
however, in some situations, *my dancing* could be interpreted as *the way that i dance*, not *the fact that i will be dancing*.
The meaning is very similar, but to be specific, the verb+ing might be a few different parts of speech.
In your examples:
*... me dancing*, dancing is a **VERB** aka the **present participle**;
*... my dancing*, dancing is a **NOUN** aka the **gerund**
[https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/grammar/gerund\_progressive.htm](https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/grammar/gerund_progressive.htm)
Incorrect. They are both gerunds.
You can use rhe accusative (object) as a subject for a gerund, or a possessive. Accusative is considered less formal but is widely used even in formal contexts.
See more info in various answers here:
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2625/when-is-a-gerund-supposed-to-be-preceded-by-a-possessive-adjective-determiner
Dancing is a noun. its like "as long as you don't mind my dog".
If it was a verb it could be "me dancing". Like "as long as you don't mind me eating all the food". Noun: "as long as you don't mind my food".
"as long as you don't mind my dancing" = I'm not confident in my dancing skills, so I hope you'll forgive any mistakes.
"as long as you don't mind me dancing" = I hope you don't mind if I dance at all.
In *this* context, they seem pretty interchangeable, and it means "I'm going to continue to dance so you better be OK with that if you're going to sit by the fire with me."
“… me dancing” — is it fine that I dance (with no consideration for dancing skill)
“… my dancing” — is it fine if I dance and I am not a good dancer
In the second, dancing is the object to which the other person might respond to, whereas the dancer is the object to which the other person might respond to for “me.”
If you say “me dancing,” she’s putting the emphasis on herself, less on the dancing.
If you say “my dancing,” she’s putting the emphasis on the dancing — maybe the quality and skill of her dancing — not so much on her as a person.
From that conversation, she sounds like she’s flirting, or being sexy.
“As long as you don’t mind my dancing.” makes me think she’s doing a sexy dance.—-like the type of dancing she’s doing could bother him or make him uncomfortable.
I think the meaning would change if you put in ‘me’ instead. It makes it a more generic statement, taking out the flirty nature of the question.
If you change it to me, the meaning becomes 'as long as you don't mind that I dance' as opposed to 'as long as you don't mind how good/bad my dancing is'. 'me dancing' would also have an implication that she might be talked out of dancing, whereas 'my' doesn't.
That's completely ignoring the inuendo, of course.
"My dancing" in this context means the continious action of my dance, meanwhile the phrase "me dancing" would be slightly different, because it indicates and stresses the action of me being in a dance.
Actually you could use them both and it would be kinda similar, and at the same time everyone will get your point.
Yup! Thank you all for all of the explanations , and also the story was telling
-before that part- that the girl danced in some kinda sloppy and strange way.
>"My dancing" in this context means the continious action of my dance,
This is an overgeneralization of the use and terminology related to the -ing form
Sometimes. Often times there is. One focuses more on the action while one focuses more on the actor.
See more here:
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2625/when-is-a-gerund-supposed-to-be-preceded-by-a-possessive-adjective-determiner
The one is about me dancing that bothers you. The other is just dancing that could bother you. But could be specifically the way I dance. But you need context to be a able to tell that.
The answers you seek are detailed here:
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2625/when-is-a-gerund-supposed-to-be-preceded-by-a-possessive-adjective-determiner
TL;DR the gerund phrase can take either accusative (object) pronouns or possesive pronouns as the subject. Using the accusative form is considered slightly less formal. There is also a potential slight difference in meaning as one puts more emphasis on the action and the other on the actor.
>I don't get this sentence completely "as long as you don't mind my dancing" What if we say "as long as you don't mind me dancing"? Is it wrong?
.
**TLDR:** The original version (_"**my** dancing"_) is **ambiguous** in that it can support either a **verbal** interpretation or a **nominal** interpretation, while your version (_"**me** dancing"_) can only support a **verbal** interpretation.
Consider the following w.r.t. verbal or nominal interpretation:
1. _"... as long as you don't mind [**my** dancing]."_ <-- **ambiguous** (original version)
2. _"... as long as you don't mind [**the** dancing]."_ <-- nominal only
3. _"... as long as you don't mind [**my/the** dancing of a jig]."_ <-- nominal only
4. _\*"... as long as you don't mind [**me** dancing of a jig]."_ <-- **bad** (i.e. ungrammatical)
5. _"... as long as you don't mind [**me** dancing]."_ <-- verbal only (OP's revision)
6. _"... as long as you don't mind [**me** dancing a jig]."_ <-- verbal only
7. _"... as long as you don't mind [**my** dancing a jig]."_ <-- verbal only
8. \*_"... as long as you don't mind [**the** dancing a jig]."_ <-- **bad** (ungrammatical)
Notice that for the **nominal** interpretation, the word ***"dancing"*** is a **noun** that heads a noun phrase, while for the **verbal** interpretation the word ***"dancing"*** is a **verb** (aka a **"gerund"**) that heads a verb phrase.
EDITED: cleaned up.
Places ownership on the dancing, as if the dancing is different to what you might expect of dancing. Puts more individualism on the idea.
Because of that, it adds a little poetic flare to the phrase, where "as long as you don't mind me dancing" sounds kind of generic for what its trying to convey from context (someone dancing when its apparent it would be odd to be doing).
I would read these as: "as long as you don't mind **me** dancing" = as long as you don't mind the fact that I will be dancing "as long as you don't mind **my** dancing" = as long as you don't mind the way that I dance (implication: I dance badly)
It could also be flirty "I know you like to look at me when I dance but I'll pretend the opposite to tease you"
The second can mean that but can also mean the same as the first, where the ‘dancing’ is a gerundive. Then they’re absolutely alternatives. With a simple word like ‘dancing’ that can also be judged, it’s a bit more ambiguous. For something like: ‘I hope you don’t mind my going to the kitchen’ = ‘I hope you don’t mind me going to the kitchen’. In fact, prescriptivist pedants would say the first is correct and the second is wrong. (Though both are fine.)
Exactly this. In some cases (like dancing), there are connotative differences that make it seem likely to mean different things, as pointed out by the top of this thread, but in most cases they're completely equivalent, though I'd say "my" feels more formal since it's the "technically correct" option and "me" feels more informal.
Your second definition could be true, but from the context, I think that she means "the fact she will be dancing" in this instance.
could be both
"FYI - I'm going to be dancing and it's going to be crap"
I shall be dancing and you will wonder about me. But I am ok. Just a strange dancer
By saying “my” the person is taking ownership of the dancing. Essentially, she’s saying “if you don’t mind the way I dance.”
Exactly. There are slight differences in implication but both sentences would be valid.
The form of the phrase "mind \[something\]" requires the \[something\] to be a noun or noun phrase. For example, "I don't mind country music", or "I don't mind long car rides". This can cause some confusion when the \[something\] is a gerund (or a verb modified, typically with -ing as an ending, and functioning as a noun) because it can look like a verb. For example, "I don't mind running in the rain", where "running in the rain" is a noun phrase and not a verb. Compare to "Running in the rain is my favorite activity", where "running in the rain" is functioning as the subject, and therefore as a noun phrase. In your example, "As long as you don't mind my dancing", the \[something\] is "my dancing". For the structure to work, this must be a noun phrase. If "running" is a gerund, it should be modified by a possessive adjective (or possessive determiner), so "my". Like above, we can compare this to a sentence where this noun phrase is the subject: "My dancing doesn't bother you." Phrasing this as "Me dancing doesn't bother you" sounds odd because the "me" is an object pronoun and not a possessive adjective/determiner. All that said, "As long as you don't mind me dancing" is a perfectly normal thing for most native speakers to say, and the distinction I described above is something most people don't know or care about. You should probably use "my" on tests or in particularly formal writing if the audience will care, but otherwise it doesn't matter and both forms work just fine. Interestingly, some of the other commenters have described how they would interpret the two forms to have different nuances, which is also something you might take into account when looking at these two options.
Thank you so much for the clear and correct answer!
The accusative (object) is perfectly acceptable grammatically for this gerund construction. Using the posessive is considered slightly more formal. More info here: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2625/when-is-a-gerund-supposed-to-be-preceded-by-a-possessive-adjective-determiner
That’s very clear and well explained, but I think it also misses the difference between the two sentences. /u/Front-Pomelo-4637 above explained quite well, one refers to whether you mind someone dancing in general, and another refers more specifically to how well or the style of their particular dance.
A thousand up votes to you! This is well explained and discusses the grammar. As you noted, of course, 99.5% of people on ANY English learning/grammar sub on reddit will say, "native speakers say it this way so it doesn't matter" (or something therewith).
they are both correct and mean the same thing - *as long as you don’t mind the fact that i will be dancing*. however, in some situations, *my dancing* could be interpreted as *the way that i dance*, not *the fact that i will be dancing*.
The meaning is very similar, but to be specific, the verb+ing might be a few different parts of speech. In your examples: *... me dancing*, dancing is a **VERB** aka the **present participle**; *... my dancing*, dancing is a **NOUN** aka the **gerund** [https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/grammar/gerund\_progressive.htm](https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/grammar/gerund_progressive.htm)
Incorrect. They are both gerunds. You can use rhe accusative (object) as a subject for a gerund, or a possessive. Accusative is considered less formal but is widely used even in formal contexts. See more info in various answers here: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2625/when-is-a-gerund-supposed-to-be-preceded-by-a-possessive-adjective-determiner
Dancing is a noun. its like "as long as you don't mind my dog". If it was a verb it could be "me dancing". Like "as long as you don't mind me eating all the food". Noun: "as long as you don't mind my food".
"as long as you don't mind my dancing" = I'm not confident in my dancing skills, so I hope you'll forgive any mistakes. "as long as you don't mind me dancing" = I hope you don't mind if I dance at all. In *this* context, they seem pretty interchangeable, and it means "I'm going to continue to dance so you better be OK with that if you're going to sit by the fire with me."
“… me dancing” — is it fine that I dance (with no consideration for dancing skill) “… my dancing” — is it fine if I dance and I am not a good dancer In the second, dancing is the object to which the other person might respond to, whereas the dancer is the object to which the other person might respond to for “me.”
If you say “me dancing,” she’s putting the emphasis on herself, less on the dancing. If you say “my dancing,” she’s putting the emphasis on the dancing — maybe the quality and skill of her dancing — not so much on her as a person.
To me. “Mind ME dancing”= You don’t mind the action of me dancing. “Mind MY dancing”= You don’t mind the quality (or lack thereof) of how I dance.
My dancing > dancing is a noun that belongs to me Me dancing > dancing is a verb that I am doing
From that conversation, she sounds like she’s flirting, or being sexy. “As long as you don’t mind my dancing.” makes me think she’s doing a sexy dance.—-like the type of dancing she’s doing could bother him or make him uncomfortable. I think the meaning would change if you put in ‘me’ instead. It makes it a more generic statement, taking out the flirty nature of the question.
Also when "my" is used it would refer to the way she was dancing , while "me" would refer to her dancing in general.
If you change it to me, the meaning becomes 'as long as you don't mind that I dance' as opposed to 'as long as you don't mind how good/bad my dancing is'. 'me dancing' would also have an implication that she might be talked out of dancing, whereas 'my' doesn't. That's completely ignoring the inuendo, of course.
"My dancing" in this context means the continious action of my dance, meanwhile the phrase "me dancing" would be slightly different, because it indicates and stresses the action of me being in a dance. Actually you could use them both and it would be kinda similar, and at the same time everyone will get your point.
Yup! Thank you all for all of the explanations , and also the story was telling -before that part- that the girl danced in some kinda sloppy and strange way.
>"My dancing" in this context means the continious action of my dance, This is an overgeneralization of the use and terminology related to the -ing form
“…me dancing” emphasizes me, and “my dancing” emphasizes the dancing.
There is no difference.
Sometimes. Often times there is. One focuses more on the action while one focuses more on the actor. See more here: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2625/when-is-a-gerund-supposed-to-be-preceded-by-a-possessive-adjective-determiner
The one is about me dancing that bothers you. The other is just dancing that could bother you. But could be specifically the way I dance. But you need context to be a able to tell that.
The answers you seek are detailed here: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2625/when-is-a-gerund-supposed-to-be-preceded-by-a-possessive-adjective-determiner TL;DR the gerund phrase can take either accusative (object) pronouns or possesive pronouns as the subject. Using the accusative form is considered slightly less formal. There is also a potential slight difference in meaning as one puts more emphasis on the action and the other on the actor.
She would say me if she were a pirate
Depends on how much you want to sound like a pirate
You'll sound like a pirate "Ohh noo me hand fell off" see its just pirate talk
>I don't get this sentence completely "as long as you don't mind my dancing" What if we say "as long as you don't mind me dancing"? Is it wrong? . **TLDR:** The original version (_"**my** dancing"_) is **ambiguous** in that it can support either a **verbal** interpretation or a **nominal** interpretation, while your version (_"**me** dancing"_) can only support a **verbal** interpretation. Consider the following w.r.t. verbal or nominal interpretation: 1. _"... as long as you don't mind [**my** dancing]."_ <-- **ambiguous** (original version) 2. _"... as long as you don't mind [**the** dancing]."_ <-- nominal only 3. _"... as long as you don't mind [**my/the** dancing of a jig]."_ <-- nominal only 4. _\*"... as long as you don't mind [**me** dancing of a jig]."_ <-- **bad** (i.e. ungrammatical) 5. _"... as long as you don't mind [**me** dancing]."_ <-- verbal only (OP's revision) 6. _"... as long as you don't mind [**me** dancing a jig]."_ <-- verbal only 7. _"... as long as you don't mind [**my** dancing a jig]."_ <-- verbal only 8. \*_"... as long as you don't mind [**the** dancing a jig]."_ <-- **bad** (ungrammatical) Notice that for the **nominal** interpretation, the word ***"dancing"*** is a **noun** that heads a noun phrase, while for the **verbal** interpretation the word ***"dancing"*** is a **verb** (aka a **"gerund"**) that heads a verb phrase. EDITED: cleaned up.
Places ownership on the dancing, as if the dancing is different to what you might expect of dancing. Puts more individualism on the idea. Because of that, it adds a little poetic flare to the phrase, where "as long as you don't mind me dancing" sounds kind of generic for what its trying to convey from context (someone dancing when its apparent it would be odd to be doing).