Is the word you second person

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

«You» and «Your» are not to be confused with U, Ewe, Yew, or Ure.

In Modern English, you is the second-person pronoun. It is grammatically plural, and was historically used only for the dative case, but in most^{[citation needed]} modern dialects is used for all cases and numbers.

History

You comes from the Proto-Germanic demonstrative base *juz-, *iwwiz from Proto-Indo-European *yu— (second-person plural pronoun).^[1] Old English had singular, dual, and plural second-person pronouns. The dual form was lost by the twelfth century,^[2]: 117 and the singular form was lost by the early 1600s.^[3] The development is shown in the following table.^{[2]: 117, 120, 121}

Second-person pronoun in Old English, Middle English, & Modern English

	Singular	Dual	Plural
	OE	ME	Mod	OE	ME	Mod	OE	ME	Mod
Nominative	þu	þu		ġit		ġe	ȝē	you
Accusative	þe	þē	inc	ēow	ȝou
Dative
Genitive	þīn	þī(n)	incer	ēower	ȝour(es)	your(s)

Early Modern English distinguished between the plural ye and the singular thou. As in many other European languages, English at the time had a T–V distinction, which made the plural forms more respectful and deferential; they were used to address strangers and social superiors.^[3] This distinction ultimately led to familiar thou becoming obsolete in modern English, although it persists in some English dialects.

Yourself had developed by the early 14th century, with the plural yourselves attested from 1520.^[4]

Morphology

In Standard Modern English, you has five shapes representing six distinct word forms:^[5]

• you: the nominative (subjective) and accusative (objective or oblique case^[6]: 146) forms
• your: the dependent genitive (possessive) form
• yours: independent genitive (possessive) form
• yourselves: the plural reflexive form
• yourself: the singular reflexive form

Plural forms from other varieties

Although there is some dialectal retention of the original plural ye and the original singular thou, most English-speaking groups have lost the original forms. Because of the loss of the original singular-plural distinction, many English dialects belonging to this group have innovated new plural forms of the second person pronoun. Examples of such pronouns sometimes seen and heard include:

• y’all, or you all – southern United States,^[7] African-American Vernacular English, the Abaco Islands,^[8] St. Helena^[8] and Tristan da Cunha.^[8] Y’all however, is also occasionally used for the second-person singular in the North American varieties.
• you guys [ju gajz~juɣajz] – United States,^[9] particularly in the Midwest, Northeast, South Florida and West Coast; Canada, Australia. Gendered usage varies; for mixed groups, «you guys» is nearly always used. For groups consisting of only women, forms like «you girls» or «you gals» might appear instead, though «you guys» is sometimes used for a group of only women as well.
• you lot – United Kingdom,^[10] Palmerston Island,^[11] Australia
• you mob – Australia^[12]
• you-all, all-you – Caribbean English,^[13] Saba^[11]
• a(ll)-yo-dis – Guyana^[13]
• allyuh – Trinidad and Tobago^[14]
• among(st)-you – Carriacou, Grenada, Guyana,^[13] Utila^[11]
• wunna – Barbados^[13]
• yinna – Bahamas^[13]
• unu/oona – Jamaica, Belize, Cayman Islands, Barbados,^[13] San Salvador Island^[8]
• yous(e) – Ireland,^[15] Tyneside,^[16] Merseyside,^[17] Central Scotland,^[18] Australia,^[19] Falkland Islands,^[8] New Zealand,^[11] Philadelphia,^[20] parts of the Midwestern US,^[21] Cape Breton and rural Canada^{[citation needed]}
• yous(e) guys – in the United States, particularly in New York City region, Philadelphia, Northeastern Pennsylvania, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan;^{[citation needed]}
• you-uns, or yinz – Western Pennsylvania, the Ozarks, the Appalachians^[22]
• ye, yee, yees, yiz – Ireland,^[23] Tyneside,^[24] Newfoundland and Labrador^[11]

Semantics

You prototypically refers to the addressee along with zero or more other persons, excluding the speaker. You is also used to refer to personified things (e.g., why won’t you start? addressed to a car).^[25] You is always definite even when it is not specific.

Semantically, you is both singular and plural, though syntactically it is always plural: it always takes a verb form that originally marked the word as plural, (i.e. you are, in common with we are and they are).

Third person usage

You is used to refer to an indeterminate person, as a more common alternative to the very formal indefinite pronoun one.^[26] Though this may be semantically third person, for agreement purposes, you is always second person.

Example: «One should drink water frequently» or «You should drink water frequently».

Syntax

Agreement

You always triggers plural verb agreement, even when it is semantically singular.

Functions

You can appear as a subject, object, determiner or predicative complement.^[5] The reflexive form also appears as an adjunct. You occasionally appears as a modifier in a noun phrase.

• Subject: You’re there; your being there; you paid for yourself to be there.
• Object: I saw you; I introduced her to you; You saw yourself.
• Predicative complement: The only person there was you.
• Dependent determiner: I met your friend.
• Independent determiner: This is yours.
• Adjunct: You did it yourself.
• Modifier: (no known examples)

Dependents

Pronouns rarely take dependents, but it is possible for you to have many of the same kind of dependents as other noun phrases.

• Relative clause modifier: you who believe
• Determiner: the real you; *the you
• Adjective phrase modifier: the real you; *real you
• Adverb phrase external modifier: Not even you

Pronunciation

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the following pronunciations are used:

Form	Plain	Unstressed	Recording
you	(UK) /juː/ (US) /jə/	/ju/ /jə/	female speaker with US accent
your	(UK) /jɔː/ (US) /jɔr/	/jʊə/ /jʊ(ə)r/	female speaker with US accent
yours	(UK) /jɔːz/ (US) /jɔrz/	/jʊəz/ /jʊ(ə)rz/	female speaker with US accent
yourselves	(UK) /jɔːˈsɛlvz/, /jʊəˈsɛlvz/ (US) /jɔrˈsɛlvz/, /jʊrˈsɛlvz/	/jəˈsɛlvz/ /jərˈsɛlvz/
yourself	(UK) /jɔːˈsɛlf/, /jʊəˈsɛlf/ (US) /jɔrˈsɛlf/, /jʊrˈsɛlf/	/jəˈsɛlf/ /jərˈsɛlf/	female speaker with US accent

See also

• Generic you
• English personal pronouns
• Thou
• Y’all
• Yinz

References

What is something that you like to do as a hobby? Are your friends’ hobbies the same as yours? Or do you spend a lot of time by yourself? Alright, that’s enough questions. Sorry to put you on the spot, but it was necessary to give some examples of pronouns that are used to refer to … you. It is your time to shine, because we are going to look at pronouns used in the second person point of view. And we can’t do that without talking about … you!

What is second person?

Second person is a point of view that refers to a person or people being addressed by a writer or speaker. For example, the sentence You walked across a bridge uses the second person to say what “you” (the reader or listener) did. Of the three different points of view, second person is often both the least commonly used and the most difficult to use—more on this later!

What is a second-person pronoun?

A second-person pronoun is a pronoun that refers to a person or people that a speaker or writer is addressing. A second-person pronoun doesn’t refer to the speaker/writer themselves nor does it refer to other people that a speaker/writer is not directly addressing.

List of second-person pronouns

All second-person pronouns include or are formed from the word you. Second-person pronouns include:

• you
• yours
• yourself
• yourselves

Each of these words has a specific function for its use:

• The word you is the second-person personal pronoun. You can be either singular or plural and can be used as either a subject or an object. You will often need to use context to determine if you is being used to refer to one person or multiple people.
• Yours is a possessive pronoun. It is used to indicate possession, origin, or other special relationships. Like you, yours can be either singular or plural and be used as either a subject or an object.
• Yourself and yourselves are used as reflexive pronouns and/or intensive pronouns. Yourself is a singular pronoun and yourselves is a plural pronoun.

Why and when to use second-person pronouns

The second person is a tricky point of view to use. There are certain instances where we may want to use it, however.

To give commands, advice, or directions

We commonly use second-person pronouns when giving another person or people commands, directions, or advice. Usually, we are talking to/texting/calling/emailing a person directly when we do any of these things. The second person also allows us to exclude a subject when using the imperative mood as the subject is understood to be an unstated you.

• Commands: (You) Pass the salt.
• Directions: You will drive three miles down Mulberry Street and then take the fourth left.
• Advice: You should brush and floss your teeth regularly.

To speak to an audience

Often, a writer or speaker will use second-person pronouns to establish a connection with an audience. This is especially likely to be done if a writer or speaker is making an argument or is trying to persuade others to their viewpoint. For example, take a look at these two sentences:

• I hope that everyone will volunteer for the food drive!
• I hope that all of you will volunteer for the food drive!

Although the difference is slight, the second sentence has a call to action that the first sentence lacks. The second sentence uses the second-person pronoun you to connect to the listener/speaker on a personal level in an attempt to be more persuasive.

Learn to use the subjunctive mood no matter which perspective you are writing from.

To include a reader in the story

Generally, most authors avoid writing a fiction story—or any other story—in the second person because it is difficult to do effectively and/or suggests that a reader is a character in the story.

However, the second person is used in media such as self-help books, video games, interactive fiction, virtual reality, and roleplay that includes the reader/listener/player as part of the story. For example, a person leading a role-playing game of Dungeons and Dragons might start a story with a sentence like You traverse the cursed woods and come to a haunted castle because the other players (and their characters) are part of the story being told.

Second vs. first and third-person pronouns

Second person is one of three points of view. The other two are first person and third person. First-person pronouns refer to the speaker/writer themselves either as an individual or as part of a group. First-person pronouns include I, me, we, us, mine, ours, myself, and ourselves. Third person refers to a person or people other than the speaker/writer or the individual(s) they are addressing. Third-person pronouns include she, he, it, they, her, him, them, hers, his, and theirs.

In general, a pronoun is chosen based on who is doing what in a sentence. For example:

• I am a firefighter. (The speaker is a firefighter.)
• You are a firefighter. (The person the speaker is talking to is a firefighter.)
• They are firefighters. (A group of people that doesn’t include the speaker nor their audience consists of firefighters.) 
  
• I helped you. (The speaker helped the person they are talking to.)
• You helped him. (The person that the speaker is addressing helped a person that isn’t the speaker or the person being addressed.)
• They helped us. ( A group of people that doesn’t include the speaker helped a group of people that includes the speaker.)

Grammar Coach™ will help you 

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Whether you’re writing in first or second person, perfect grammar has never been easier.

First thing to note is that English is an ever changing language with many different dialects, one of which is taken to be «standard» or «correct» English. However, words from regional dialects or newly coined words cross over into standard English all the time.

Since the words «thou» and «ye» fell out of usage in English for singular and plural respectively, the word «you» has gained traction as both the second person singular and the second person plural. This leaves a gap in the language though, and «pressure» to fill the gap. Speakers of languages including this distinction often find it frustrating that English lacks it, and indeed, even monolingual speakers of English run into times where the lack of specificity of «you» becomes a pain.

Just yesterday I was writing an Email to someone in a department of a company in another part of the country, as it had been indicated to me that his dept. was responsible for some process which I had some questions about. The email I wanted to write was:

«John tells me he thinks youse look after [certain process], could you assist me with X Y & Z».

Unfortunately, because of the stigma of using a word like «yous», I was left wanting. If I had said «you», the person reading the email would have taken it to mean that he personally was responsible for the process, which I am positive he isn’t. I could have gone for «you lot», but that sounds a little rude to me (Oi! You lot!). In the end, I caved and wrote «you guys», which doesn’t feel at all natural to me, a Brit, but filled the gap I needed.

As usually happens when language shifts to lose a useful piece of grammar, dialect variations that cover this gap tend to spring up. The most notable of these are:

• Y’all chiefly found in southern American English and African American English (interesting article about it’s propogation here http://dialectblog.com/2011/02/15/the-remarkable-history-of-yall/)
• You guys as increasingly found in General American as a generic second person plural. The fact that people use it even for a mixed gender or all female group implies a certain level of grammaticalisation of the form.
• Yous/Youse is what’s used around my neck of the woods. I believe it’s used in some parts of the states too. In Boston this seems to have come from Irish immigrants, but it being formed just by adding an s to you, it wouldn’t be surprising if it had sprung up independently in many places. Scouse (Liverpudlian) English uses it, likely also a borrowing from the Irish, who often pronounce it closer to «yez» or «yiz».

An interesting article about all of this here, if you’re interested.
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/yall-youuns-yinz-youse-how-regional-dialects-are-fixing-standard-english