Y'all and All of you - Which is correct?

Question

Y'all means you all. You can be singular or plural. Therefore, you all is redundant. (like I saw with my own eyes here just i saw would be sufficient. What else do we see with. Just you will mean mor than one person.

May be people say y'all because they do not know you can mean more than one person.

Maybe it is attempt to emphasise.

I think if you want to stress that you mean more than one person, you should say say "all of you". Example: y'all are invited to the party" "All of you are invited to the party"

I see many Indians use y'all (maybe it is a translation of the Hindi word "aap sab"). Do the British y'all?

What are your views

Answer 1

It depends. In formal writing and speech, "all of you" would be more correct, but "y'all" is perfectly acceptable in Southern dialects. It's simply a matter of register: are you speaking formally or informally? Are you addressing an international group or fellow Southerners? The answer depends upon the situation.

The reason why Southerners use "y'all" instead of just "you" (and why Yankees use "yous guys" instead of "you") is because English no longer has a unique plural form of "you"; hence, it is difficult to distinguish between "you" singular and "you" plural unless additional information is given. Hence, various regions of the countries have come up with different solutions that are used in that region's dialect.

Once upon a time, we did have a familiar form, "thou", but increasing formality of language among aristocrats made the use of "thou" seem overly familiar in tone, so it was lost. The unfortunate result is that we no longer have distinct singular and formal forms as other languages do (e.g. French "tu" vs. "vous").

As someone from Texas with family roots in Mississippi, I have no discernable Southern accent (and often get accused of being from elsewhere, even up North), and I consider myself educated. Nevertheless, I do not find "y'all" offensive or annoying when used in informal speech. It is not uncommon for educated people who use only minimal amounts of slang and who use proper grammar to use the word "y'all" in informal conversation here. In fact, strangely enough, I find that "you all" sounds more hickish than "y'all" does, perhaps because of the drawl people use to say "you all" that I don't necessarily hear when people say "y'all".

On the other hand, I find "yous guys" immensely annoying. But this is probably because I associate (perhaps erroneously) "yous guys" with a particular type of accent (an annoyingly nasal one) that I dislike and because I assume that people who use it are generally ignorant of grammar and incapable of educated speech. But I may be wrong. It could be that "yous guys" sounds every bit as acceptable to the Northern ear as "y'all" sounds to the Southern ear. It depends upon how the expression is used, and more importantly, by whom, I suspect.

Incidentally, in informal speech, most Texans I know personally would indeed say "All of you are invited to the party" but might also say either "So what are y'all doing this afternoon?" or "So what are you all doing this afternoon?", the latter of which, of course, is merely the uncontracted form of "y'all". In addition, I find that in certain circumstances (such as when I travel to the Deep South), I tend to use "y'all" a bit more frequently than I would otherwise. For some reason, "y'all" just sounds more simpatico in those situations than "all of you" does, if you know what I mean.

Answer 2

You by itself may be singular or plural. Coming from the South originally, I grew up using "y'all" and still do. It is a regionalism, part of the dialect. It is used in the plural only, and Southerners are well aware of this. It is not an attempt to emphasize.

I don't know about Indians or British usages, since I come from the Deep South in America. Cheers, and I hope this helps. -- K

Answer 3

Both correct. However the proper term would simply be "you."
In English, the second person singular and second person plural pronoun are the same: you. This can cause confusion. So whenever one wants to use the plural "you," it is often modified, such as y'all, you guys, all of you, you all, etc. Each region has it's own solution to this problem. As my first-grade teacher liked to say, "The lady who wrote the English language was crazy."

Answer 4

Y'all and All of you are both right. People(where i'm from, anyway) say "y'all" to emphasize. It's like saying "you should come" to a group of people, but here, you would say "y'all should come" addressing the whole group, so everyone FEELS included.

Besides, it's easier to understand on paper. YOU could be misinterpreted as singular, so Y'ALL is a better fit.

Answer 5

The correct way would be to say "you all." Until recently "Y'all" has been recognized by dictionaries but that is only due to the popularity of the word itself. "Y'all" had become so widely used that was made an addition to the dictionary. Before its recognition and still today "y'all" is considered slang.

Answer 6

Since I was born in Kentucky I feel I am knowledgeable enough to give you the correct answer. Y'all is all encompassing. It means you or you and your entourage.It is like most words which originate in Kentucky is simply a lazy way of saying something else.

Answer 7

Y'all is like texan talk. It is an accent and some people see it as lazy because they won't just say you all. All of you sounds a lot more intelligent to most people. I have nothing against texans. You guys rock.
Too piss people off, say "all y'all".

Answer 8

Y'all (sometimes spelled "ya'll"), a contraction of you all, is a second-person dual or plural pronoun in Southern American English, African-American Vernacular English, and Appalachian English. Most speakers who have y'all use it as the plural form of you, though a group of linguists in Texas have recently claimed that some Texans can use y'all as a singular.

Y'all is used in all but the most formal of speech registers and in writing. It is sometimes used as a dual pronoun to refer to only two people, with a related form all y'all used for plural contexts. The possessive form of y'all is y'all's (e.g. I really like y'all's house.), and the possessive form of all y'all is all y'all's. While "y'all" has begun to spread to general US English, however, "all y'all" and "y'all's" have not; "y'all" and "your" are used, respectively.

"All of You" is a popular song written by Cole Porter and published in 1954 (lol joking)

Answer 9

In parts of the US, "y'all" is used, in *some* places, it is used only for the plural, in some places it is used for both singular *and* plural, and in some places "all y'all" is used for plural and "y'all" for singular. I don't know about in Britain or India.

Answer 10

Here in my beautiful state of Tennesee we say y'all only when it means more than one person. It's perfectly fine if you choose to say "all of you" but down here, we like it just fine the way we do it. I hope y'all don't mind if we keep it this way!