Learn Ye to Speak and Write in All
Proper "Forsoothliness."

(This article is highly condensed from my article which appeared in the PYRE.)

...My concerns are with the use of pronouns and the archaic suffixed verbs. I shall be using the words subjective and objective to differentiate the pronouns. A subjective pronoun is one which is used as the subject of a sentence; it is the person, place or thing which doeth the action. An objective pronoun representeth a person, place or thing which receiveth the action; it is not a doer of action. For example: In Romeo and Juliet, during the balcony scene, act II, scene II, Juliet speaketh, "How cam'st thou hither, tell me and wherefore?" "Thou" is the subjective pronoun. Unto "thou," is the verb "cam'st" attributed. "Thou" is going to answer Juliet's questions of "how" and "wherefore" (why) he came. In King Lear, act III, scene V, the Duke of Cornwall sayeth unto Edmund, "True or false, it hath made thee earl of Gloster." The subjective pronoun is "it," as it performed the action, "hath made." "It" acted, making "thee" an earl. "Thee is the objective pronoun. "Thee" did nothing in the sentence. "Thee" was simply acted upon by "it." Unto ye I shall present my conclusion: "Thou" is a subjective pronoun; "Thee" is an objective pronoun. The word "Thee" performeth no action, therefore no suffixed verbs can be assigned to it. ...If ye have doubt, there are more supportive passages. I shall now attempt to stumble through the pronoun "ye."

...Ye is the plural pronoun meaning "y'all" (you all). The possessive of ye is your. Take ye my word for it, or look ye up the many references on your own. I shall now list many examples of the use of the pronoun "ye." From the Bible, book of Obadiah: v1, Arise ye; v16, ye have drunk; From the book of Micah: ch1, v2, Hear, all ye people; 1:10, Declare ye it not; 1:11, Pass ye away; 2:3 ye shall not remove your necks; neither shall ye go haughtily; 2:6, Prophesy ye not; 2:8, ye pull off the robe; 2:9 The women...have ye cast out...have ye taken away; 2:10, Arise ye, and depart: 3:1, Hear...ye princes; 3:6, ye shall not have...ye shall not divine; 3:9, Hear..ye heads; [and many more]. Unto ye I presented many examples. I conclude no special verb suffixes are used with "ye." I would use "ye" seldom, as I am not precisely sure of mine observations (and it, at times, soundeth awkward).

"Mine" observations? O.K. we shall cover possessive pronouns: my, mine, thy, thine and throw in a and an since they follow the same rules. [highly condensed and re-worded] My, thy and a precede words which begin with consonants (except H). Mine, thine and an precede words beginning with vowels and H. There are many examples which I'll not mention here. Exceptions can be found to this rule. Quick examples: That horse is an ugly nag; the ugly nag is thine. Thy locks are like hanging sphagnum moss; wash thou thine hair. My and mine mean "belonging to me." Thy and thine mean "belonging to to you." For "belonging to them," use theirs. Why not simply use "your" and "yours?" Thou, thee, thy and thine are informal forms of you. The "you" pronouns are used respectfully. Hast thou ever heard "thy majesty?" I have briefly covered the archaic pronouns. We still have the suffixed verbs.

The suffixed verbs are those which endeth with th, st or variations of these. Only subjective nouns and pronouns have suffixed verbs. A common error, particularly for the unlearned Mundanians, is to attempt to put suffixes on non-verbs or onto too many verbs in a sentence. I'll not provide many examples here, since there are so many available. With the word thou, use the st, t, or est suffixes. He, she and it useth the th suffixed verbs. Ye and they hath no special suffixed verbs. This is for present-tense verbs. Past and future tenses are a bit more complicated. Below, are some "easy" guidelines.

THOU runnest/lovest, hast run/hast loved or lovedest, shalt run/shalt love.
HE, SHE, IT runneth/loveth, hath run/hath loved or lovedeth, shall run/shall love.
THEY, YOU, YE run/love, have run/have loved, shall run/shall love.

I hope you get the idea.

Unto ye readers, I offer tips: Ranneth is not Biblical; hast/hath run is. The verbs, will and shall hath no eth suffixes; in other words, the verbs willeth (as the to-be verb) and shalleth shalt not be used. Use ye not consecutive suffixed verbs. Use ye hast and hath for past tense, as -edest and -edeth are, for my research, fuzzy, at best. I hazard to guess that only the subject of a sentence hath suffixed verbs.A/thy precedeth words beginning with consonants and an/thine precedeth words beginning in vowels or h. I know not precisely, so I shall call this opinion: When a suffixed verb precedeth a subjective pronoun or noun, I feel it might usually be a question. Think ye that I may be right? Repliedest thou to correspondence promptly?

If any of ye good readers feel I am wrong, let me not wallow in ignorance. If I am wrong and remain unrighted, others may take this document to be accurate, compounding the ignorance. I am fully capable of accepting criticism. Save ye our existence and right the wrongs as ye see them!

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