“my” vs. “mine” in multiple owner possessive

Thank you both for your erudition :) ... for the last 20 years or so I have been proofreading woefully informal writing written in a formal venue designed for the discussion of serious and weighty topics. Too bad formal writing is so outré.

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@annp - it is indeed what Fowler called the fused participle, but whether you use a possessive with it or not is purely a matter of formality. In object position, in informal language, object pronouns are fine.

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@annp

Yes, indeed. This is dubbed, if I recall, the "fused particle" construction and may be the way I would express it in speech. In fact, I might refer to "the children", rather than "our children", given that one of the children was not mine.

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how about the "you taking" shouldn't that be your taking? just curious

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@John Gibson - and your second example has the advantage that the possessive pronoun comes after "child", so it now has an antecedent. But I agree with you that the last is probably most natural.

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Instead of:

“I so appreciate you taking mine and Gregg’s child to school today.”

Use this:

“I so appreciate you taking Gregg’s child and mine to school today.”

Or even:

“I so appreciate you taking Gregg’s and my child to school today.”

Usually, in English, manners determine that the other person comes first in a sentence. Certainly it rules in cases where two pronouns are used.

More natural, in the course of a conversation where it was understood that two children, one being Gregg's, were involved, would be this sentence:

“I so appreciate you taking our children to school today.”

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Hi porsche, I'm still not so sure. I totally agree that all the sentences you've given are unambiguous, but they're all the results of our interpretation of the original sentence. OK, as sbee then asks if it should be 'my', he does make it clear, but if we take the original sentence as it stands without that remark, then I still think it is unclear. I thinkl that's what I meant.

Mine means something like 'my one(s)' so I think the sentence as it stands can be read two ways:

Either it's a mistaken version of - “I so appreciate you taking my and Gregg’s child to school today.” - therefore one child

Or it could be read: “I so appreciate you taking my one (i.e. my child) and Gregg’s child to school today.” - therefore two children

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@Warsaw Will, I agree with almost all that you said, except for one thing. You said that the original sentence is not very clear. I disagree. Every version put forth so far has a very specific meaning:

"I so appreciate you taking Gregg’s and my child to school today.”

can only mean that Greg and you have one child together and someone took him or her to school.

"I so appreciate you taking my and Gregg’s child to school today.”

can only mean the same thing. A few would say this is ungrammatical, with "my" coming first, but if not ungrammatical, it is at least considered rude by all. This pronoun shift is completely unacceptable, even in informal speech. If you talk like this, everyone, "educated" or not, will think you're a young teenager who can't put down their cellphone.

"I so appreciate you taking Gregg’s child and mine to school today.”

can only mean Greg has a child, you have a different child, and someone took both children to school.

"I so appreciate you taking mine and Gregg’s child to school today.”

can also only mean Greg has a child, you have a different child, and someone took both children to school. While this also may or may not be grammatical, it is still rude. See the comment above about "my".

If you and Greg had more than one child together, then the only way to say it would be

"I so appreciate you taking Gregg’s and my children to school today.”

Note, evey single one of these versions is completely unambiguous. Possibly all are grammatical, but some are to be avoided for reasons mentioned.

Last, Will, your comment about the need to mention Greg is very well taken. Specifically for cases where Greg and you have a child together, it would be extremely unlikely to mention Greg at all (which makes it even clearer that "mine" meaans two different kids). First, by mentioning Greg, it's at least implied that he's not actually present. If that was the case, why would he even be mentioned? You would simply say

"I so appreciate you taking my child to school today.”

Greg's siring would be completely irrelevant (but not ungrammatical). Perhaps that's why it would sound awkward.

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@Hairy Scot - touché

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@Warsaw Will
"Mine" is only used on its own, not before a noun:

What about "mine host"? :-))

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@semiotek - I agree that what you say is the answer to the original question, but the rest is not just about style, it's about sounding natural. I just don't think that "my and Gregg's child" is natural English. It doesn't sound to me like something a native speaker would say.

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For the example given in the original question, my is correct and mine grammatically impossible - the rest is just style.

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Yes, I think "Gregg's and my" is preferable.

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@Sbee - I know it's not what you asked, but the more I think about it, the less reason I see to mention either Gregg or me; the other person knows whose child is involved. If we introduce our daughter to somebody I don't think we usually say, "This is Gregg's and my daughter", but either "This is our daughter" or "This is my daughter". Secondly, I think we'd be more likely to say "my son" or "my daughter" than "my child", wouldn't we? Or as I said before, simply use their name:

"I so appreciate you taking Ben / my son / our son to school today".

Or for the more formally minded:

"I so appreciate your taking Ben / my son / our son to school today".

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@Dyske - OK, but I think Gregg's child should come first in that case to make clear what "mine" is referring to:

"I so appreciate you Gregg’s child and mine to school today.”

In fact, it's not very clear from the original whether we are talking about one or two children. If it is one, and the speaker still wants to mention both themself and Gregg, then I think "Gregg's and my child" would be more natural than "My and Gregg's child". And if there are two - I would prefer "Gregg's and my children", I think.

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While I agree with Warsaw Will, wouldn't it still be grammatically correct to use "mine" in this case, if you were to think of "mine" as referring to "my child"? That is, what if the original sentence was this?:

"I so appreciate you taking my child and Gregg’s child to school today.”

This should be grammatically correct although it would be stylistically better not to repeat "child" twice.

What if we then replaced "my child" with "mine"? Wouldn't it still be grammatically correct?

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No. "Mine" is only used on its own, not before a noun:

“I so appreciate you taking my and Gregg’s child to school today.” - but I would suggest "our child" or the kid's name would be more natural than "my and Gregg's child"?

Is this your child? That's mine over there.
This is my child. Is that yours over there?

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