Re: Story - TCOAIW

MNR. TD LAWRIE wrote:

>Tristan wrote:
>
>
>
>>Okay, yes. I'm wrong... I was trying too hard. 'He'd like to go now'
>>etc. That was easy enough. And I wouldn't decontract that into 'he would
>>like to go now' to understand it, either. Same as I wouldn't turn 'you'
>>into 'thou' when singular, or 'don't' into 'do not'.
>>
>>
>
>"Thou" isn't an archaic or formal singular for "you", I think.  I believe
>it's a different pronoun, with plural "ye".
>
Thou is the nominative. In the days when it was used, ye was also the
nominative. These days, we only have 'you'. 'You' is the 'stating form'
(that is, the normal word you'll use to express the lot of them for
simplicity) for all of the second-person plural pronouns, 'thou' is the
'stating form' for all of the second-person singular pronouns. So we're
both sort-of right.

>As for contractions like "don't"/"he'd", I was always taught to avoid
>such contractions in prose (this was in the normal course of
>schooling for native speakers of English).  Thus I must agree with
>the analogy with the French "ne...pas".  Not sure whether I would
>always find such contractions "awkward" myself, though.
>
Well yes. I was taught not to write them in grade two or something.
Except for the fact that we went to great lengths to show the
relationship between them and the uncontracted forms. And I was taught a
lot of things that just aren't natural and best ignored... and have been
breaking the rules ever since with no complaint, unlike those who
started every sentence with 'and' or 'then'... I've assumed the lack of
a complaint was because it's okay if done right, and I'm doing it right.
It could also just be that they decided I'd be too stubborn and let me
get away with it and ignore it when marking etc. ;)

Tristan.