Monday, November 7, 2016

Imperatives and Jussives

On our last reading, Mark pointed out something interesting in verse 18.  (Well, a few things, actually.)  He noted that "you will call me 'my man'" could be either a command or a description of the future.  English uses "you will verb" generally as a future tense, and usually forms a command by simply offering the commanded verb--in this case, "call me 'my man'" without "you will."  However, to intensify the command, those future-tense words can go back in there:  "You WILL call me 'my man.'"