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Lruc Posted 18 years ago
Grammar
Confusion with "you"
I have a a question about the pronoun "you". Why do we say "you are" in sentences where the subject is clearly singular?
Example: Why are you going to the concert?
Example: Why are you going to the concert?
Top answer
We use 'you are' because we always use the plural form 'you' in modern English, even when we are talking to only one person. For some reason, throughout the years the plural form came to be considered more polite. Eventually the singular form ('thou art') just about dropped out of the language, I suppose because everybody wanted to use the more polite form.
- We use 'you are' because we always use the plural form 'you' in modern English, even when we are talking to only one person.
- For some reason, throughout the years the plural form came to be considered more polite.
- Eventually the singular form ('thou art') just about dropped out of the language, I suppose because everybody wanted to use the more polite form.
- CJ If you want to talk like they did hundreds of years ago, you can use those very, very old forms!
- Why art thou going to the concert?
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1 Answers
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We use 'you are' because we always use the plural form 'you' in modern English, even when we are talking to only one person. For some reason, throughout the years the plural form came to be considered more polite. Eventually the singular form ('thou art') just about dropped out of the language, I suppose because everybody wanted to use the more polite form.
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