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From: davies@prl.research.philips.com (R.J.Davies)
Subject: Re: Is vs Are (was: Ability to learn language)
Message-ID: <DMtrBK.68B@prl.research.philips.com>
Date: Thu, 15 Feb 1996 16:04:32 GMT
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Matthew Huntbach (mmh@dcs.qmw.ac.uk) wrote:
> Another grammatical gripe in this area - when you are having a good old moan
> to some minor bureaucrat, it really is a pity that we don't have a second 
> person singular/plural distinction. If we did, all our ranting "you never
> do enough for us, you always mess things up, etc", wouldn't sound like a
> personal attack on whatever poor clerk is the direct recipient of the ranting,
> since the second person plural would make it clear that the "you" refers to
> the organisation he or she happens to work for.

Whatever happened to 'thou'?

In Scottish and, I think, some Northern English dialects, 'youse' is used as
second person plural.

Other wish-list personal pronouns:  Inclusive and exclusive forms of 'we'
so you can include or exclude your audience as you see fit.

Rob
  
-- 
.signature: Permission denied.
