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Old grammar books p3

Something one doesn’t find in modern grammar books is any mention of thou, thine, thee, and ye. In McDougall’s Complete Grammar, from 1913, they cover these personal pronouns. They are rarely used these days, except in some parts of England. Thou and thee are singular in number, and ye is plural in number.

Pronouns in the singular number:

McDougall’s explains that Thou is the subject of the sentence, otherwise known as the nominative case. It is doing the action eg. Thou must desist; or You must desist.

Thee is in the objective case: it is the object of the sentence, ie something is being done to it. eg I applaud thee; or I applaud you.

Thy and thine are in the possessive case. It shows possession eg. That is thy book; or That is your book. The book is thine; or The book is yours.

For plural pronouns: Ye must leave; or You people must leave.

But the objective case for the plural pronoun is You: eg. I spoke for you all.

And the possessive case for the plural pronoun is Your and Yours.

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