Re: USAGE: 2nd pers. pron. for God

Quoting "Newton, Philip" <Philip.Newton@...>:

> bnathyuw wrote:
> > i suspect even many devout christians wouldn't be able
> > to give the old second person singular form of the
> > verb ( even with a reasonable knowledge of the
> > language i can't remember whether the subjunctive
> > keeps the -st ending )
>
> If you read the KJV Bible a lot, I suppose you learn the rules just be
> repeated exposure. But you're right; I'm sure there are many people who
> would like to use "thou" but are not sure of which forms to use.
You'd think so, but in my experience they typically latch
onto one of the archaic singular verb endings, -(e)st or
-(e)th, and use that consistently for their superhigh
register.

> I'm not sure about the subjunctive (especially since it isn't
> used that much in standard English anyway),
On the contrary, it isn't used that much in British English,
but it is far more frequent in American English, especially
in subordinate clauses. A sentence like "The judge ordered
that the prisoner should be placed in detention", rather than
"that the prisoner be placed in detention", has a distinctly
British flavor to me.

(One thing that always strikes me about Tony Blair's speeches
and the BBC is that they use the present indicative in
subordinate clauses in ways that sound awkward in American
English.)

> I suspect that the old third person singular forms in -th are less used
> than "thou" forms.
That's my experience as well...

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Thomas Wier            "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally,
Dept. of Linguistics    because our secret police don't get it right
University of Chicago   half the time." -- octogenarian Sheikh Zayed of
1010 E. 59th Street     Abu Dhabi, to a French reporter.
Chicago, IL 60637

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