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Ask for help > Subject pronoun "I"
Subject pronoun "I"
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chenchen_castrourdiales
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Subject pronoun "I"
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Hi teachers,
Today, one of my students has asked me the reason why do they have to write the subject pronoun "I" in capital letters. The point is that I have never asked myself that question before and that I do not know the reason. Does any of you know the reason why "I" is written in capital letters but not the rest of the subject pronouns? The question may seem stupid but I don not know. Thanks in advance. |
8 Jun 2010
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coyote.chus
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The most common theory is that when the old English "Ich" (like in
German) became reduced to "I" it was thought to be too small and
insignificant to be a real word and could easily get attached to the
end or beginning of another word. So scribes and later printers took
the habit of capitalising it
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8 Jun 2010
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Bruna Dutra
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Actually, I once read there was a story behind it, but don �t remember what. But wikipedia gives a short and clear explanation:
English I originates from Old
English (OE) ic. This transformation from ic to i
had happened by about 1137 in Northern England. Capitalisation of the word began around 1250 to
clarify the single letter as constituting a full word: writers and
copyists began to use a capital I because the lower-case letter
was hard to read, and sometimes mistaken for part of the previous or
succeeding word. This practice was already established by the
introduction of movable type in the mid-15th century, and was also still
considered to improve readability.
I �m just pasting from it.
I believe we should always tell the students that many things have a story behind them. However, most frequently it �s better to incorporate the expression and move on.
Every now and then, I like to share funny facts about English, though.
Did you know that English has more synonyms than any other language in the world? That �s why I always tell them to try hard and harder to express themselves only in English, not trying to translate things all the time.
Hope to have helped.
Best regards!
Bruna
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8 Jun 2010
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Minka
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I don �t really mind what the reason is. We just try to remember it. But I do use it when explaining the persons:
In singular, the first person is "I" - because everything happens around me and to me I am the first. No one gets closer to me than "I". In fact, I am so important to me that I always write I in capital.
The second person is "you" - the one I am speaking to.
The third person is not so close, it is one we are speaking about. Someone who is not you, nor I.
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9 Jun 2010
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MarionG
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interesting! Good to know the real reason but I also tell my students something like Minka..The English think very highly of themselves so they capitalize �I". I straighten up completely making myself look important and making myself look like the capital �I � |
9 Jun 2010
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douglas
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Interesting and informative thread--thanks |
9 Jun 2010
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alien boy
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According to some of the etymology resources I �ve looked at:
he reason for writing I is ... the orthographic habit in the middle ages of using a �long i � (that is, j or I) whenever the letter was isolated or formed the last letter of a group; the numeral �one � was written j or I (and three iij, etc.), just as much as the pronoun. [Otto Jespersen, "Growth and Structure of the English Language," p.233]
Cheers, AB |
9 Jun 2010
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Jayho
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Very interesting thread - I wanted to know more so I googled it and found these interesting links:
and
Cheers - Jayho |
9 Jun 2010
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