Till death do us part

[savozaul]

From an English grammar viewpoint, which of these two phrases is more correct/acceptable:

"Till death do us part"

OR

"Till death do us apart"

I have heard both being used at Christian marriage ceremonies.

- Savozaul

 

[Shakespeare's brother]

'Till death do us part'. You could turn it round to check it: 'till death parts us.'

 

[savozaul]

Yes, I prefer that version too.

However there is a case for 'apart' as well ... as in "till death set sets us apart"

However, my problem was with the "do" -- 'do us part' sounds fine, but 'do us apart' might have been better said as 'does us apart'.

 

[Shakespeare's brother]

'Death sets us apart' is good.

What you've got to remember is that apart and part are different types of word. Although these days it would be more fashionable to say 'till death does us part', you wouldn't be able to say 'death does us apart' because the does acts as auxiliary to the verb to part and doesn't make sense with the adverb apart.

Put it this way what sounds better?: 'I do part' or 'I do apart'