Is this a joke? The idea of reforming grammar is ludicrous. English teachers have enough trouble teaching "correct" English as it is now without having to try to change fundamental aspects of the language!
<< It is utterly absurd that the word 'you' does not have a distinction between singluar and plural. >>
I see nothing absurd about this. Most native English speakers don't even give it a moment's thought. That indicates to me that no such thought is necessary.
<< For example, 'Did you go to the zoo yesterday?', is completely ambigous. English speakers are aware of this ambiguity so they usually add something like the following to clarify plurality: 'Did you and Tina and Mike...go to the zoo yesterday', or 'did you guys go to the zoo yesterday? The first sentece is verbose and the second is not gender neutral (guys refers to a group of males). >>
First off, the ambiguity is usually not a problem in the first place. Furthermore, there are more alternatives than those you listed: "Did you all go to the zoo yesterday?", or "Did all of you...?", or "Did you three...?" I also don't understand why "you guys" is problematic, either... I'm certainly not going to suddenly imagine that Tina is a man because of the use of "you guys". But if you think it's a problem, there are other alternatives.
By the way, try using a language like Korean or Japanese, where pronouns -- especially for "you" -- are avoided whenever possible!
<< The solution to this problem is simple: resurrect the plurals of 'you' and 'your' that were used in Middle English, 'ye' and 'thy'. >>
This notion would strike most people as hilarious. Nobody's going to start talking like a Shakespearean character just to "fix" something that nobody else perceives as a problem!
<< We also need to resurrect the dative and accusative forms of 'you' from Middle English, as the pronoun 'you' is also completely overstreched in this regard. >>
Normal nouns don't need case declension. Why do pronouns? There's nothing different about them that requires it. If we were to reform grammar (which absolutely will not happen), it would seem to me that it would be better to eliminate case declension altogether!
- Kef
<< It is utterly absurd that the word 'you' does not have a distinction between singluar and plural. >>
I see nothing absurd about this. Most native English speakers don't even give it a moment's thought. That indicates to me that no such thought is necessary.
<< For example, 'Did you go to the zoo yesterday?', is completely ambigous. English speakers are aware of this ambiguity so they usually add something like the following to clarify plurality: 'Did you and Tina and Mike...go to the zoo yesterday', or 'did you guys go to the zoo yesterday? The first sentece is verbose and the second is not gender neutral (guys refers to a group of males). >>
First off, the ambiguity is usually not a problem in the first place. Furthermore, there are more alternatives than those you listed: "Did you all go to the zoo yesterday?", or "Did all of you...?", or "Did you three...?" I also don't understand why "you guys" is problematic, either... I'm certainly not going to suddenly imagine that Tina is a man because of the use of "you guys". But if you think it's a problem, there are other alternatives.
By the way, try using a language like Korean or Japanese, where pronouns -- especially for "you" -- are avoided whenever possible!
<< The solution to this problem is simple: resurrect the plurals of 'you' and 'your' that were used in Middle English, 'ye' and 'thy'. >>
This notion would strike most people as hilarious. Nobody's going to start talking like a Shakespearean character just to "fix" something that nobody else perceives as a problem!
<< We also need to resurrect the dative and accusative forms of 'you' from Middle English, as the pronoun 'you' is also completely overstreched in this regard. >>
Normal nouns don't need case declension. Why do pronouns? There's nothing different about them that requires it. If we were to reform grammar (which absolutely will not happen), it would seem to me that it would be better to eliminate case declension altogether!
- Kef