not to mention + do/doing

[EdisonBhola]

Hi all, I have created the following sentences in order to learn how to use "not to mention":

I can hardly move, not to mention run/running.
I love driving, not to mention drive/driving an exotic car.

My guess is the first sentence requires "run" and the second requires "driving" because of parallel construction.
Am I correct?

Many thanks!

 

[Glasguensis]

Yes

 

[learnthenteach]

I'm not familiar with this site, and I don't know if it is customary to answer questions just with yes/no.
So, if it's not, would you explain why we can use infinitive instead of gerund? Because I haven't found a single example in any dictionary to say so. Thanks.

 

[Enquiring Mind]

Hi learnthenteach, and welcome to the forum!
"Not to mention" is a self-contained separate phrase. This phrase itself does not govern the following syntax. In other words, it is not the phrase "not to mention" which dictates whether you need a gerund, infinitive, noun, adverb or whatever immediately after the phrase. The required syntax after this phrase is dictated by the grammatical form of the parallel construction that preceded it.

... would you explain why we can use infinitive instead of gerund?

Because there's no reason why we can't.

In Iceland you can stand within a waterfall, go inside a volcano, and swim between two continents, not to mention [the fact that you can] see a spectacular view of the northern lights in the winter ... (icelandnaturally.com) The parallel construction is you can stand ... you can see - infinitives
Our staff are focused on making your car run safely and efficiently, not to mention [run] effortlessly. Parallel construction safely ... effortlessly - adverbs.

 

[learnthenteach]

Again, I don't know if it's OK to thank one another in this community, but I've seen most members (new members mostly) do it a lot. So, since I am one of them I want to thank you very much (honestly, I didn't think anyone replied). Your comprehensive answer is much appreciated. As I said I'm not familiar with this site, but I hope it has more of you.

 

[learnthenteach]

I was thinking about the answer you gave then I asked a question here, but I'm not satisfied with the answer. So, if you don't mind I'm going to ask here again.
Can I say: I don't want to see him, not to speak of/to say nothing of talk to him.

 

[Glasguensis]

You could but both sentences are unnatural. We would more likely say “I don’t even want to see him, never mind talk to him”.

 

[learnthenteach]

In the original post the OP assumed in:

I can hardly move, not to mention run/running.

running is an option.

But when I think about the following example I think a gerund cannot be used (because of parallel construction).
I don't want to see him, not to mention talk/talking to him.
Oh man! I'm confused.