"'You' is not unfrequently employed, like 'we,' as a representative pronoun. The action is represented with great vividness, when the person or persons addressed may be put forward as the performers: 'There is such an echo among the old ruins, and vaults, that if _you_ stamp a little louder than ordinary, _you_ hear the sound repeated'; 'Some practice is required to see these animals in the thick forest, even when _you_ hear them close by _you_.'
"There should not be a mixture of 'thou' and 'you' in the same passage. Thus, Thackeray (Adventures of Philip): 'So, as _thy_ sun rises, friend, over the humble house-tops round about _your_ home, shall _you_ wake many and many a day to duty and labor.' So, Cooper (Water-Witch): '_Thou_ hast both master and mistress? _You_ have told us of the latter, but we would know something of the former. Who is _thy_ master?' Shakespeare, Scott, and others might also be quoted.
"'Ye' and 'you' were at one time strictly distinguished as different cases; 'ye' was nominative, 'you' objective (dative or accusative). But the Elizabethan dramatists confounded the forms irredeemably; and 'you' has gradually ousted 'ye' from ordinary use. 'Ye' is restricted to the expression of strong feeling, and in this employment occurs chiefly in the poets."--Bain's "Composition Grammar."
PROOF. This word is much and very improperly used for _evidence_, which is only the medium of _proof_, _proof_ being the effect of _evidence_. "What _evidence_ have you to offer in _proof_ of the truth of your statement?" See also EVIDENCE.
PROPOSE--PURPOSE. Writers and speakers often fail to discriminate properly between the respective meanings of these two verbs. _Propose_, correctly used, means, to put forward or to offer for _the consideration of others_; hence, _a proposal_ is a scheme or design offered for acceptance or consideration, a proposition. _Purpose_ means, to intend, to design, to resolve; hence, _a purpose_ is an intention, an aim, that which one sets _before one's self_. Examples: "What do you _purpose_ doing in the matter?" "What do you _propose_ that we shall do in the matter?" "I will do" means "I _purpose_ doing, or to do." "I _purpose_ to write a history of England from the accession of King James the Second down to a time which is within the memory of men still living."--Macaulay. It will be observed that Macaulay says, "I purpose _to write_" and not, "I purpose _writing_," using the verb in the infinitive rather than in the participial form. "On which he _purposed_ to mount one of his little guns." See INFINITIVE.