Enclosed is a comment extracted from another list.  I would appreciate the
comments of other grammarians on the two questions posed.

 

1.  (But do you really think "you" in phrases like "if you please" can be
called a direct object?  This construction is at least 500 years old. 

2.  (Would "if you like" be the same?)

 

Scott Catledge

Professor Emeritus

history & languages

 


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