The popular Christmas song is "Joy to the World", but I observed that a line from its lyrics, written by Isaac Watts, confused me. "Joy to the World, the Lord is come!”- it should be sang as "Joy to the World, the Lord has come" or it can be "Joy to the World, the Lord is coming". Mignon Fogarty found out that the phrase the Lord is come uses a kind of verb called an unaccusative verbs (see: http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/15836/).
References:
Fogarty, M. (2006, December 20). The Lord Is Come? Retrieved November 26, 2011 from the World Wide Web: http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/unaccusative-verbs.aspx
Melyngoch, A. A. (2005). 100 Hour Board. Retrieved November 26, 2011 from the World Wide Web: http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/15836/
ANGENICA F. MARTIREZ
Songs are under poetry, right? Writers have a poetic license to deviate from the standard rules of grammar.
ReplyDeleteOh! Sorry for commenting without reading one of the links. Wow, archaic English. Do not mind my earlier comment.
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ReplyDeleteSo according to your reference sites, the line "Joy to the world, the Lord is come" is acceptable but the rule it is under is already nearly extinct. Thank you for the information Angenica.
ReplyDeleteOh, I forgot that deleting comment is not allowed. I'm sorry for deleting my first comment in this post. It is just like the comment before this one.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this one. I am very curious about this one way back in high school. Whenever I hear the line "the Lord is come", I doubt about the lyrics. Now, I know that it is acceptable but nearly extinct.
ReplyDeleteChristina, you should remove "about" after "doubt" in your third sentence or you could rewrite and say,” I have doubts about the lyrics.”
ReplyDeleteI was also confused with the lyrics before but I never had a chance to research about it. Now I know. Thanks! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing a new knowledge about the song and about verbs. :)
ReplyDeleteWow! Thanks for that information Angenica. I also thought that there's really something wrong with that song.
ReplyDeleteI think we can now sing this song in a correct way because of Angenica. Thanks for the information.
ReplyDeleteIn our church choir, we uses "Joy to the World, the Lord has come". Thanks for sharing about unaccusative verbs. I never thought that kind of verb.
ReplyDeleteThe concept about Archaic English is new to me. It is also my first time to read about unaccusative intransitive verb. I never thought that there’s such form which is considered to be nearly extinct in the English language. It is a good thing that a brief history and explanation are provided in this site. I found this very interesting.
ReplyDeleteHey Carlo, I just want to inform you that your first sentence was incorrect. It should be "we use" and not "we uses". Pronouns that are plural should take the base form of the verb.
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