Comments on: Modernizing Liturgical English

By: John Denton

John Denton — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:04:16 +0000

We are dealing here with a relative clause post modifying a vocative, the best known case being ‘Our Father who (or which) art in heaven’. This structure was evidently available to Thomas Cranmer in the 16th century but is no longer possible in contemporary English. In the case of the Lord’s Prayer the version in traditional language is still the most widely used but the same structure cannot be used elsewhere (it is very common in collects). It is often replaced by a statement about God i.e. ‘Almighty God, you are… It has certainly been a thorny problem for the modernization of the language of prayer.

By: Peter

Peter — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 13:15:23 +0000

This reminds me of the confusion over the use of the Southern American “y’all,” which is used to address two or more people, never one person

Well, that’s obvious – does anyone really get that wrong? But then again, Americans keep popping up telling us that in their dialect “y’all” is singular and “all y’all” is plural. I can see people getting that wrong.

By: Al Galbraith

Al Galbraith — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 12:30:05 +0000

I disagree. The subject of the parenthetical expression containing “sits” is a singular “who,” not “you.” The complete sentence minus the parenthetical expression is, “You . . . have mercy upon us.” “You who sit” would refer to more than one person sitting.

This reminds me of the confusion over the use of the Southern American “y’all,” which is used to address two or more people, never one person – confusion which exists only in the minds of people trying to fake a Southern accent.

I do agree that the KJV should be retained for its poetry, which is sorely missing from modern English.