[Sidenote: _Third person_ singular _has gender_.]

But the third person has, in the singular, a separate form for each
gender, and also for the neuter.

[Sidenote: _Old forms_.]

In Old English these three were formed from the same root; namely,
masculine _hē_, feminine _hēo_, neuter _hit_.

The form _hit_ (for _it_) is still heard in vulgar English, and _hoo_
(for _hēo_) in some dialects of England.

The plurals were _hī_, _heora_, _heom_, in Old English; the forms
_they_, _their_, _them_, perhaps being from the English demonstrative,
though influenced by the cognate Norse forms.


[Sidenote: _Second person always plural in ordinary English._]

79. _Thou_, _thee_, etc., are old forms which are now out of use in
ordinary speech. The consequence is, that we have no singular pronoun
of the second person in ordinary speech or prose, but make the plural
_you_ do duty for the singular. We use it with a plural verb always,
even when referring to a single object.

[Sidenote: _Two uses of the old singulars._]