Third person commands

Question

I have read that the following is a third person command:

"Somebody help me."
Is this true? To me it seems to be a shortened version of "Somebody, you help me" which obviously sounds strange. Am I wrong, and what are some other third person commands if they exist?
Thanks.
Chris

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]I have read that the following is a third person command: "Somebody help me."[/nq]
You were misinformed. This is a second-person
verb in the imperative mood.
Example of a third-person command:
Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.
(I think the KJV authors wrote Him, not He:
another question.)

Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada)
dphillipson(at)trytel.com

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I have read that the following is a third person command: "Somebody help me." Is this true? To me it ... "Somebody, youhelp me" which obviously sounds strange. Am I wrong, and what are some otherthird person commands if they exist?[/nq]
"Somebody, you help me," is strange, but so would be "You help me" as a request. The imperative would be "Help me." It seems to me that "Somebody help me" should be "Somebody, help me," equivalent to "Help me, somebody," "Help me, one of you who can hear my voice." In other words, it is a second person imperative.
What is usually used to translate into English the third person imperative of languages which have it is "let him/her/them.." plus the verb. An example is the translation of Matthew 16:24 in which the Greek text uses the third person imperative to say what in English is usually translated as "let him deny himself." That is not necessarily a satisfactory translation. See the verse as it is translated in the *New English Translation,* "he must deny himself," and read the comment in footnote 29 at

http://www.bible.org/cgi-bin/netbible.pl?book=mat&chapter=16

(Esperanto has the same form for all imperatives, first, second, and third person, singular and plural, so it has no problem translating the verb in question: "li abnegaciu sin.")

Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Example of a third-person command: Let him who is without sin cast the first stone. (I think the KJV authors wrote Him, not He: another question.)[/nq]
That question comes up in one form or another about once a year. I saved this for reference:
King James Version:
John 8:7 When therefore they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said to them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
The Revised Standard Version (1962) relegates John 8:1-11 to a footnote (meaning it is of dubious authenticity) and has:
"And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, 'Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.'"

Best Donna Richoux

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I have read that the following is a third person command: "Somebody help me." Is this true? To me it ... "Somebody, youhelp me" which obviously sounds strange. Am I wrong, and what are some otherthird person commands if they exist?[/nq]
"Somebody help me" is definitely second-person.
Comments about:
"Long live the King"?
Adam Maass

Third person commands

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