[B-Greek] John 15, true vine

Harold R. Holmyard III hholmyard at ont.com
Wed Jan 5 17:11:48 EST 2005


Dear Jim,

>>I don't always agree with Wallace; but without more consideration, I see
>>no reason to question his view here that the Greek has no impersonal 2nd
>>ps.
>
>I don't make use of Wallace- but I am terribly curious what a 2nd 
>person singular "you" would be if not personal??  Is there 
>conceptually even the possibility that someone saying "you" is not 
>addressing someone?  Thus Wallace must be right here, mustn't he?

HH: The impersonal you might be called the indefinite you. It is 
"you" but referring to anybody. A person might say, 'To make an apple 
pie you get some apples, remove the seeds, and cut up the fruit." The 
speaker may mean "you" the listener, but may refer generally to 
anyone who makes an apple pie. There is an indefinite you in Hebrew 
in a couple of places where it refers to directions, something like: 
"The mountain is before your going into the city." The "your" is 
indefinite and refers to anyone going into the city.

				Yours,
				Harold Holmyard




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