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believe me

UserPost

9:52PM
Feb-25-09


oli

Member

posts 27

Post edited 4:08AM – Feb-26-09 by oli


Is “Believe you me” grammaticaliy correct?Or do I need to knockout you?

11:32PM
Feb-25-09


dilettante

Member

posts 265

Michael Quinion has written about this phrase .

7:05AM
Feb-26-09


Matt Holck

Member

posts 82

I think this is a case of extending the command mode
in this case, the verb is what must be followed so it comes first.

(you) picture a captain commanding his troops
"Company Halt!"
{company)"About face!"
(company)"March!"

The subject "Company" is dropped from the commands to get right to the action

I think in the case of "believe you me",
the "you" was reinserted after the verb to make sure the sentence had a subject on paper.
In essence, the writers were trying to be grammatically correct by reinserting the "you".

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