Poll: If you don't mind ____ asking.....

LYnque

Come on, people, get up on your gerunds! There's a noun here, and who does it belong to?

Klomag

It may be difficult to tell, but "asking" is also a verb.

Besides, you should've said "...to whom does it belong?"

Hmmm

LYnque is right but slang prevails and folk etymology often wins. Many people in England and Australia pronounce "my" as "me" so that no difference can be heard when spoken aloud.

bonn

Forgive me, but I do not see any nouns. I do however see two pronouns.

leopoldo

this is a great place to learn inglish grammar

Anderson Ribeiro

Guys, the above phrase is used to soften some hard questions. i.e.: "If you don't mind my asking, how old are you?" Besides, there is one grammar rule for that, which says to use possessive case pronouns in front of gerunds. That's is my opinon. Take care.

Paul Paez

Is asking a gerund? Or is it a participle? If it's the latter, see below:

If you don't mind me asking (you). - "me" is the object of the sentence. "Asking" is the participle (not a verb) that describes me).

Comparison:

If he saw me taking the test, I would have felt embarrassed.
(Would it be correct if I were to say "If he saw my taking the test"?)

Feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Zdenek Pavlicek

I have just learnt that in my text book, I think that both forms are correctly, however I will ask my teachaer ;-) and write down a result here.
Information according to my text-book:
In more formal English ...
If you don't mind MY asking, ...
In less formal SPOKEN English, you can sometimes hear: An object pronous in used instead of a possessive pronoun:
I'll use your pen, if you don't mind ME borrowing it.

Zdenek Pavlicek

THE CORRECT FORM:
If you don't mind MY asking, ...