You

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In Modern English, the word "you" is the second-person pronoun. It is grammatically plural, and was historically used only for the dative case, but in most[citation needed] modern dialects is used for all cases and numbers.

History

: 117, 120, 121 

Second-person pronoun in Old English, Middle English, & Modern English
Singular Dual Plural
OE ME Mod OE ME Mod OE ME Mod
Nominative þu þu ġit ġe ȝē you
Accusative þe þē inc ēow ȝou
Dative
Genitive þīn þī(n) incer ēower ȝour(es) your(s)

Early Modern English distinguished between the plural ye and the singular thou. As in many other European languages, English at the time had a T–V distinction, which made the plural forms more respectful and deferential; they were used to address strangers and social superiors.[3] This distinction ultimately led to familiar thou becoming obsolete in modern English, although it persists in some English dialects.

Yourself had developed by the early 14th century, with the plural yourselves attested from 1520.[4]

Morphology

In Standard Modern English, you has five shapes representing six distinct word forms:[5]

  • you: the nominative (subjective) and accusative (objective or oblique case[6]: 146 ) forms
  • your: the dependent genitive (possessive) form
  • yours: independent genitive (possessive) form
  • yourselves: the plural reflexive form
  • yourself: the singular reflexive form

Plural forms from other varieties

Although there is some dialectal retention of the original plural ye and the original singular thou, most English-speaking groups have lost the original forms. Because of the loss of the original singular-plural distinction, many English dialects belonging to this group have innovated new plural forms of the second person pronoun. Examples of such pronouns sometimes seen and heard include:

Semantics

You prototypically refers to the addressee along with zero or more other persons, excluding the speaker. You is also used to refer to personified things (e.g., why won't you start? addressed to a car).[25] You is always definite even when it is not specific.

Semantically, you is both singular and plural, though syntactically it is almost always plural: i.e. always takes a verb form that originally marked the word as plural, (i.e. you are, in common with we are and they are).

Third person usage

You is used to refer to an indeterminate person, as a more common alternative to the very formal indefinite pronoun one.[26] Though this may be semantically third person, for agreement purposes, you is always second person.

Example: "One should drink water frequently" or "You should drink water frequently".

Syntax

Agreement

You almost always triggers plural verb agreement, even when it is semantically singular.

Functions

You can appear as a subject, object, determiner or predicative complement.[5] The reflexive form also appears as an adjunct. You occasionally appears as a modifier in a noun phrase.

  • Subject: You're there; your being there; you paid for yourself to be there.
  • Object: I saw you; I introduced her to you; You saw yourself.
  • Predicative complement: The only person there was you.
  • Dependent determiner: I met your friend.
  • Independent determiner: This is yours.
  • Adjunct: You did it yourself.
  • Modifier: This sounds like a you problem.

Dependents

Pronouns rarely take dependents, but it is possible for you to have many of the same kind of dependents as other noun phrases.

Pronunciation

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the following pronunciations are used:

Form Plain Unstressed Recording
you (UK) /juː/

(US) /jə/

/ju/

/jə/

female speaker with US accent
your (UK) /jɔː/

(US) /jɔr/

/jʊə/

/jʊ(ə)r/

female speaker with US accent
yours (UK) /jɔːz/

(US) /jɔrz/

/jʊəz/

/jʊ(ə)rz/

female speaker with US accent
yourselves (UK) /jɔːˈsɛlvz/, /jʊəˈsɛlvz/

(US) /jɔrˈsɛlvz/, /jʊrˈsɛlvz/

/jəˈsɛlvz/

/jərˈsɛlvz/

yourself (UK) /jɔːˈsɛlf/, /jʊəˈsɛlf/

(US) /jɔrˈsɛlf/, /jʊrˈsɛlf/

/jəˈsɛlf/

/jərˈsɛlf/

female speaker with US accent

See also

References

  1. ^ "Origin and meaning of it". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2021-03-20.
  2. ^ a b Blake, Norman, ed. (1992). The Cambridge history of the English Language: Volume II 1066–1476. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  3. ^ a b "thee". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  4. ^ "yourselves". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  5. ^ a b Huddleston, Rodney; Pullum, Geoffrey K. (2002). The Cambridge grammar of the English language. Cambridge University Press.
  6. ^ Lass, Roger, ed. (1999). The Cambridge history of the English Language: Volume III 1476–1776. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  7. ^ Rios, Delia M (2004-06-01). "'You-guys': It riles Miss Manners and other purists, but for most it adds color to language landscape". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 2007-03-30.
  8. ^ .
  9. .
  10. ^ .
  11. ^ "Expressions". The Aussie English Podcast. Archived from the original on Aug 23, 2018.
  12. ^ .
  13. ^ "Dictionary of Trinidad and Tobago". Chateau Guillaumme Bed and Breakfast.
  14. ^ Butler, Susan (Aug 30, 2013). "Pluralising 'you' to 'youse'". www.macquariedictionary.com.au. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
  15. ^ My sweet | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/03/2008 Archived April 22, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ McClelland, Edward (Feb 6, 2017). "Here's hoping all youse enjoy this". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2020-03-10.
  17. OCLC 52886851
    .
  18. ^ "you, pron., adj., and n." Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  19. .
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