Friday, 12 February 2016

grammar - "Would you mind to do something?"

No, it's not correct.



The verb mind can take an Equi Gerund Complement:



  • Would you mind doing something?

but not an Equi Infinitive Complement:



  • *Would you mind to do something?

whence the asterisk on the second sentence, indicating that it's ungrammatical.



Verbs vary a lot in which complements (if any) they can take; this is one part of the meaning of the verb. Like and care are both verbs that can take infinitive complements; mind isn't. That's all, really.



Any good ESL dictionary should indicate which types of complement a verb can take; dictionaries for native speakers, on the other hand, usually don't mention that. One more reason not to look in dictionaries for grammatical information.

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