"Do you mind [me/my] smoking?"

What's the correct answer?

Do you mind __________ smoking?
(a) me
(b) my

I'll save you the suspense: the correct answer is (b)—"Do you mind my smoking?"

The rationale is simple: smoking is a gerund, i.e., a nominalized form of a verb—basically a noun, and it's the accusative of the verb to mind as well as the complement of the possessive my. Here's an easy way to think about this: imagine a situation in which Fred owns an obnoxious dog that likes to jump all over houseguests. Brenda is sitting in Fred's living room when Rex, his paws muddy from a romp outside, decides to hop onto Brenda's lap and start licking her face. Fred, who has the good grace to be apologetic, belatedly asks:

Do you mind __________ dog?
(a) me
(b) my

The answer should be obvious: "Do you mind my dog?" No one says, "Do you mind me dog?"—unless they're speaking in Cockney English.

So there it is, as easy as that: use a possessive adjective in front of the noun if the noun is the accusative of the verb to mind. And remember that a gerund is basically a noun.

Do you mind [possessive] [noun, accusative (direct object)]...?

This applies to more than just to mind, of course. Knowing what you now know about the need for possessives, the following questions ought to be absurdly easy:

Sir, I daresay I object to __________ defecating upon my face.
(a) your cat's
(b) your cat

Ah, yes—Gerold. I remember __________ fucked my wife in the waters of the Trevi Fountain last year.
(a) him having
(b) his having


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