Learn English – “Would you mind and do something” in nonstandard colloquial AmEng

american-englishcolloquialismsformalitynon-standardnorth-american-english

Does Would you mind and do something instead of Would you mind doing something sound acceptable in spoken AmEng, or is it an attempt to imitate or render colloquial speech in not so formal writing?

Would you mind and provide the phone number connected on the account? source

Would you mind and tell us what you've tried. source

Would you mind and not steal my Sig. source

Would you mind and not repeat that to anyone.

Best Answer

1.) "Would you mind and do something?"

2.) "Would you mind and provide the phone number connected on the account?"

3.) "Would you mind and tell us what you've tried."

According to my ear, there's nothing wrong with those types of expressions. (I'm an AmE speaker, and I've traveled to or lived in most corners of the USA.)

Actually, in my personal opinion, I'd consider those versions to be more polite than these alternatives:

  • "Would you mind doing something?"

  • "Would you mind providing the phone number connected on the account?"

  • "Would you mind telling us what you've tried."

as those last three versions have the speaker sorta already assuming that the other person won't mind hearing a request from him, and the speaker is rushing a request at the other person. (Though others might disagree.)

As for the OP's #1, #2 and #3 examples, I've heard these kinds of phrases spoken often by AmE speakers, and I'm pretty sure I've used them myself. E.g. "Would you mind and do something for me?"

I'd consider these kinds of expressions to be at least of an informal style of standard English. The coordinator "and" has many uses, e.g. "Be sure and lock up", "We always try and do our best". (There might be some related info in the 2002 reference grammar CGEL.)

Related Topic