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Jackson6612 Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

Thy loving kindness and mercy follow you all the days of your life.

0I am supremely confident that the following sentence is correct:02br
02br
01b01font00Thy loving kindness and mercy follow you all the days of your life.02font02b02br
02br
00What if we insert through between you and all in the above sentence?02br
02br
01font00Thy loving kindness and mercy follow you 01b01font00through 02font02b00all the days of your life.02font0-
  

Top answer

01. 02br 02br 002. 02br 02hr 00Hello Jackson,02br 02br 00Adding "through" changes the meaning a little.

— MrPedantic

  • 01.
  • 02br 02br 002.
  • 02br 02hr 00Hello Jackson,02br 02br 00Adding "through" changes the meaning a little.
  • 02br 02br 00There are one or two doubtful elements in the original sentence, by the way:02br 02br 00a) "Follow" is subjunctive; therefore the statement is a wish, addressed to "you": "may X happen to you".
  • However, if the "loving kindness and mercy" already relate to the addressee (as "thy" suggests), there is no need for such a wish.
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5 Answers
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01. Thy loving kindness and mercy follow you all the days of your life.02br
02br
002. Thy loving kindness and mercy follow you 01b00through02b00 all the days of your life.02br
02hr
00Hello Jackson,02br
02br
00Adding "through" changes the meaning a little. 02br
02br
00In #1, the phrase "all the
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0 01blockquote
01cite10MrPedantic12cite12br
11font11b101.12b10 Thy loving kindness and mercy follow you all the days of your life.12font12br
12br
11font11b102.12b10 Thy loving kindness and mercy follow you 11b10thr
0
0
0Hello Jackson,02br
02br
00Yes, that does make a difference!02br
02br
00In that case, it's a simple statement, and the phrase "all the days of my life" means "for as long as I live" (or "until I die").02br
02br
00If you add "through", the phrase "all the days of my life" becomes the object of the preposition "through": "kindness and mer
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0 01blockquote
01cite10MrPedantic12cite10b) If you address someone as "thou", and thus use "thy" when speaking to that person, it's a little irregular to address them as "you" also.12br
12blockquote
11b00You 02b00in this sentence is the object of the verb not the subject, hence the correct pronoun would be
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Bokeh12cite11b10You 12b10in this sentence is the object of the verb not the subject, hence the correct pronoun would be 11b10thee 12b10not 11b10thou12b10.12br
12br
12blockquote
10Yes, I should have mentioned that. Thanks, Bokeh!0
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