[Grammar] Which one is grammatically correct ?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Jul 18, 2009
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Arabic
Home Country
Palestinian Territory
Current Location
Morocco
Hullo dear friends!

Which one is grammatically correct ? And if all were incorrect, how would I express the meaning in plain English?

1- It's you who beautify the clothes, not the clothes do you!
2- It's you who beautifies the clothes, not the clothes do you!
3- It's you who beautify the clothes, not the clothes beautify you!

Thanks
:)
 

Pedroski

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2009
Member Type
Other
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
China
Tricky one this!

beautify: add beauty to.

you beautify
he (who) beautifies

1-It's you who beautify the clothes, not the clothes which beautify (they beautify) you!
*2-It's you who beautifies the clothes, not the clothes which beautify you! Not good: you beautify, not 'Who beautifies?' nor '*you beautifies' The relative pronoun 'who' represents 'you', second person singular or plural. Cf Who is this damsel, who beautifies my house so?
3-It's you who beautify the clothes, not the clothes that beautify you!

If you put on a pirate accent, I suppose you could say: "You beautifies them there clothes baay-u-ti-fully, darlin'" Best not in an ESL exam though!
 

corum

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2010
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Hungarian
Home Country
Hungary
Current Location
Hungary
Interesting.

Who beautifies my house is you. :tick:
Who beautify my house is you. :cross:

It is you who beautify... :tick:
It is you who beautifies... (no go for some prescriptive grammarian)

It's you who beautify the clothes, not the clothes do you! :tick:
? 2-It's you who beautifies the clothes, not the clothes do you!
It's you who beautify the clothes, not the clothes beautify you! :tick:
 

Pedroski

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2009
Member Type
Other
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
China
Yeah, if you want to wax poetic, use 'do'.

How about this: I come down to the kitchen late at night, and catch you:

Ha! So it's you (you're the one) who eats all my popcorn! The bit in brackets elided.

That would indicate, that 2) above was at least permissible. Strange!

I wouldn't say: Ha! So it's you (you're the one) who eat all my popcorn!

With the reservation that (you're the one) is elided, 2) must be ok.
 

TheParser

VIP Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2009
Member Type
Other
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Hullo dear friends!


Which one is grammatically correct ? And if all were incorrect, how would I express the meaning in plain English?

1-It's you who beautify the clothes, not the clothes do you!
2-It's you who beautifies the clothes, not the clothes do you!
3-It's you who beautify the clothes, not the clothes beautify you!

Thanks

:)


NOT A TEACHER

It's you who beautify the clothes, not the clothes, you!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top