You – Addressing the Second Person

you

After a very successful first season on Lifetime, “You” has been picked up by Netflix. The premise of the show is simple: a bookstore manager, Joe Goldberg, develops an obsession with a graduate school student, Guinevere Beck. His obsessive behavior escalates, and his actions become dangerous. Starring Penn Badgley and Shay Mitchell, the series has already been renewed for a second season.

When addressing the second person, the pronoun you is used. It is used in both the nominative and objective cases. This article is a generalized pronoun, and it is used to address a second person in a formal or informal context. In fact, it is more common than the formal indefinite pronoun one. It triggers plural verb agreement because it always refers to the second person in a sentence.

Although “You” focuses on the dark side of obsession, the movie also highlights the human side of obsession and how easily privacy can be invaded. The sardonic and quick-witted Joe is a great character to watch – but he may be the most dangerous person on the planet. You’ll also get to witness the darkest side of stalking in “You.”

Historically, you and ye were used interchangeably, but in Early Modern English, the two were distinguished as subject pronouns. The former was more formal and respectful, and it led to the decline of the former in modern English. Yet, you continues to be used in some dialects. In the southern United States, y’all is still used in some cases to indicate second person singular. It is also used occasionally in North American varieties of English.

Your English online listening lessons will also help you learn how to distinguish homophones. Two words that sound similar but have different meanings are spelled differently. One such homophone is you’re, which is a contraction of two words. Although you may recognize contractions as “you’re,” it is rare to hear these forms in formal documents. While spell check can catch homophone mistakes, it can sometimes fail to notice them. When this happens, you may want to use a dictionary.