THE BIG 'I ' IN ENGLISH
Did it ever occur to you (asks an exchange) that it might seem egotistical for you to write of" yourself with a capital 'I? instead of using the small and less obtrusive one ? The " English use of the capital 'I ' is one of , the odi'dest features of the language— to a foreigner. If" a Frenchman writes with reference to himself he makes ' j ' (the French equivalent of ' I ') with a small ' j.' So with the German, who may use capitals to begin every -noun.; he always uses the small 'i' in writing ' ich.' The Spaniard avoids, as flar as possible, the use of the personal pronoun when writing, in the first person, but -be- always writes it ' yo;' taking pains •however, to begin the Spanish equivalent of our 'you * with a capital." In English it is surely big <I ' ..and little 'you,' as the old saying has it.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZT19070314.2.72.3
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New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 11, 14 March 1907, Page 37
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153THE BIG 'I' IN ENGLISH New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 11, 14 March 1907, Page 37
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