Re: Some isolating verb patterns

From:    Andreas Johansson <andjo@...>
> Quoting Gary Shannon <fiziwig@...>:
> > Actually, I was thinking of leaving both unmarked, but
> > use the SV order for the present and the VS order for
> > the imperative. I mentioned this in another thread
> > (Let's construction). (relevant lines quoted below)
>
> Well, imperatives usually don't have explicit subjects, do they?
This is generally true, but in English at least the frequency
varies by dialect and grammatical construction.  In Southern American
English, it is very common to use the plural pronoun _y'all_ when
making commands: e.g. "Y'all stay here for a minute while I go look for
the keys I left in the apartment."  The singular pronoun _you_ is
notably less frequent, and is more emphatic: (Mother to son) "You make
sure you do your homework before you go out." This is of course identical
to the habitual reading of the present tense form, but context and
prosodic information distinguish them clearly.

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