Why are these sentences correct?: Put down the gun/Put the gun down/Put it down
But not: Put down it.
Do you know?
>>7353982
Because the vast majority agree that that wording is confusing and inaccurate and language is based on consensus.
>>7354010
please, there must be a legitimate answer
>>7355480
language is mob rules, just like any human convention.
>>7355494
If you want to quantify it, it's something like
"a pronoun subject must precede its verb, but a noun subject doesn't have to"
Weird rules like this are often rooted in weird aspects of OE case/declension agreement stuff.
>>7353982
SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED!!!1!
AM I BEING DETAINED?!?!?!
start with the Greeks (Aristotle)
>>7355503
but that's not correct. because the verb in the OP's sentence is 'put'. 'down' is the preposition.
What is interesting is the placement of the preposition in this sentence and sentences similar. Here you can say:
'Put the gun down' or 'put down the gun'
or 'Take out the key' or 'take the key out'
You can say
'Go in the house' but not 'go the house in'
Why is that?
>>7355528
Maybe because what you're referring to in the former examples are items, and in the latter it's a location (noun)?
Because it sounds stupid.
>>7355531
hmm, yeah I suppose that is the distinction. Seems sensible enough
>>7355531
That might also answer OP's question.
The reader knows an item has to be "put down". What item?
It seems you can't tell someone how to put "a thing" if you don't even specify that thing.
>>7355503
basically this. 'it' has no accusative form, so it sounds weird at the end of a sentence without a preposition and yet there's no grammatical error because 'it' has no alternate conjugate form.
>>7355522
no. 'down' in this context is an adverb modifying 'put'. consider that if you wanted to specify the command, you'd use a prepositional phrase such as "on the ground"
This is so good. I wish we had more /linguistics/ threads either here or /his/
>>7355756
every other day i'm on /lit/ i get caught up in some english grammar fuck. also what makes you think a grammer thread on /his/ wouldn't be banned within 5 minutes?
>>7355793
yeah i know its bullshit the stuff they ban on that board. Despite the name of the board they ban so much 'humanities' discussion
I thought it might be something to do with there being no subject for verb to work on, but in the correct example 'put it down' the words are the same and only the construction is different, so it must be something to do with the order of the words...
I wish I was better with the mechanics of grammar instead of relying on what has become instinct.
It really comes down to whether you poo in loo or not.
>>7355920
or well rather the answer's something like "that's not how we structure commands in the accusative"
it really doesn't have much to do with the pronoun itself, as when we compare a sentence like "Leave alone him" or "Ask quickly her". the accepted format for commands is something like "Verb+object+adverb". note that you can end a command with a personal pronoun if it's preceded with a preposition ("Get rid of it"), but there's no accepted verb-prep. pair with 'put' that works with this semantic context.
part of it may be related with the verb 'put' itself. consider that you can't just 'put' something as an isolated action. it requires an adverb or prep. phrase, because it's meaning requires an indirect object or modifier. that is, "[Subject] put [Object]" is semantically meaningless.
