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I ran into this example at one of the EDX.org courses. This was said by a native English speaker. The phrase is

Please bring them [concerns] to mine or my teaching assistants' attention

I feel that this is incorrect and should be

Please bring them to my or my teaching assistants' attention.

The transcript of the course's video also says "mine".

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    You can't say "mine attention" in present-day non-archaic English, but that sequence of words does not appear in your quote. It says "mine or my teaching assistants' attention" which is a bit different. The speaker is presumably thinking of the phrase as [mine] or [my teaching assistants' [attention]]: that is, "mine" is being used as a complete noun phrase, coordinated with another noun phrase "my teaching assistants' attention". I think there have been some questions about this earlier; I will try to find them.
    – herisson
    Commented Nov 14, 2017 at 3:53
  • Oh, I forgot that the earlier questions about this subject are very badly organized and full of irrelevant things or over-simplifications. But here is a fairly good post that seems relevant: What possessive forms are used for mutual 1st person ownership?
    – herisson
    Commented Nov 14, 2017 at 3:55
  • I'm still looking through the network of linked posts, but here is an even more relevant question that I found: “Your and my {something}” vs “Yours and my…”
    – herisson
    Commented Nov 14, 2017 at 3:57

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I once told a student "fill free to correct each possible error you think a native speaker might be saying. That sounds like a good hobby." I was being sarcastic.

In the meantime the text in your question title does not appear in the body of the question. Mine attention would be odd (because it's archaic) unless one wanted to sound really Germanic, but to mine or my teacher's attention, while seemingly incorrect to a potential pedant (and I'm sure you, like that student, are not one), is generally acceptable in conversational English. Not all utterances adhere to logical proof. And English possessive pronouns can get awkward at times, especially when coupled, (eg, my wife and I's), which some native speakers here have almost ridiculed but I don't have a problem with.

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  • It may be tolerable, but it grates on the ear and is awkward. Having read quite a few of Clare's answers and comments, I greatly doubt she herself would utter it. Much more natural would be "my attention or that of my teaching assistants" or " my teaching assistants' attention, or mine.." Maybe I am pedant.
    – Jeff Morrow
    Commented Nov 14, 2017 at 4:34
  • I wouldn't say to mine attention. The other one's not so bad. English possessive pronouns can get awkward at times, especially when coupled, (eg, my husband and I's), which some here have almost ridiculed but I don't have a problem with.
    – Arm the good guys in America
    Commented Nov 14, 2017 at 4:38

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