... ye of little faith?

Scott Kaelen · Sep 4, 2014

Everywhere I look, there seems to be several different ways of writing the following phrase:

O ye of little faith

O' ye of little faith

O', ye of little faith

Oh ye of little faith

Oh, ye of little faith

The first example is from the King James Bible, but obviously the grammar and punctuation in the KJB is outdated.

The story this line pertains to is a comic fantasy take on Creationism, but meant as a sly reference to verses in the New Testament. With that in mind, would any particular example be more correct to use?

King Neptune · Sep 4, 2014

Search for the quote on google, and you will both

O, ye of little faith
Oh, ye of little faith
Oh Ye Of Little Faith
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=quotes+ye+of+little+faith
The punctuation is partly a matter of style, but there should be something after the "Oh".

Scott Kaelen · Sep 4, 2014

King Neptune said:
Search for the quote on google, and you will both

O, ye of little faith
Oh, ye of little faith
Oh Ye Of Little Faith
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=quotes+ye+of+little+faith
The punctuation is partly a matter of style, but there should be something after the "Oh".

Thanks for the reply. I did a Google search, which gave me the five examples I mentioned.

If there must be a comma after o or oh, that may cause problems with a similar line in the story.

This is how it looks at the moment: "You're the best, o' Lord."

But with a comma it looks somehow awkward and wrong: "You're the best, o', Lord."

(I should have probably mentioned this in my OP.)

Marlys · Sep 4, 2014

Scott Kaelen said:
Thanks for the reply. I did a Google search, which gave me the five examples I mentioned.

If there must be a comma after o or oh, that may cause problems with a similar line in the story.

This is how it looks at the moment: "You're the best, o' Lord."

But with a comma it looks somehow awkward and wrong: "You're the best, o', Lord."

(I should have probably mentioned this in my OP.)

O is correct, and has neither apostrophe nor comma--it's vocative, indicating direct address, and is capitalized. The phrase is from Matthew 8:26, which in the KJV looks like this:

And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

If you're using vocative to parallel that construction, your example should read "You're the best, O Lord."

Scott Kaelen · Sep 4, 2014

Marlys said:
O is correct, and has neither apostrophe nor comma--it's vocative, indicating direct address, and is capitalized. The phrase is from Matthew 8:26, which in the KJV looks like this:

And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.
If you're using vocative to parallel that construction, your example should read "You're the best, O Lord."

That's perfect. Thank you.

One more question, if I may? I'm considering adding the word 'great' between O and Lord. Would the adjective also have to be capitalised? Which of the following is right?
"O Great Lord."
"O great Lord."

NRoach · Sep 4, 2014

Scott Kaelen said:
That's perfect. Thank you.
One more question, if I may? I'm considering adding the word 'great' between O and Lord. Would the adjective also have to be capitalised? Which of the following is right?
"O Great Lord."
"O great Lord."

It's an adjective describing the Lord, rather than part of the Lord's title, so it goes uncapitalised.

Scott Kaelen · Sep 4, 2014

Excellent.

Thank you, all, for clearing that up for me.

Marlys · Sep 4, 2014

Scott Kaelen said:
That's perfect. Thank you.
One more question, if I may? I'm considering adding the word 'great' between O and Lord. Would the adjective also have to be capitalised? Which of the following is right?
"O Great Lord."
"O great Lord."

Yes, I would capitalize "great" in that case--I wasn't sure, so double-checked with a couple of style guides, and it should follow Holy Father, Almighty God, etc., in which the adjective also gets capitalized.

King Neptune · Sep 4, 2014

Scott Kaelen said:
Thanks for the reply. I did a Google search, which gave me the five examples I mentioned.

If there must be a comma after o or oh, that may cause problems with a similar line in the story.

This is how it looks at the moment: "You're the best, o' Lord."

But with a comma it looks somehow awkward and wrong: "You're the best, o', Lord."

(I should have probably mentioned this in my OP.)

No, there would only be one comma setting off the address, and the apostrophe is unnecessary:
"You're the best, o Lord."
or
"You're the best, oh Lord."

King Neptune · Sep 4, 2014

Scott Kaelen said:
That's perfect. Thank you.
One more question, if I may? I'm considering adding the word 'great' between O and Lord. Would the adjective also have to be capitalised? Which of the following is right?
"O Great Lord."
"O great Lord."

Whichever one you prefer. If great is how the lord is generally addressed, then it gets a capital.

Scott Kaelen · Sep 4, 2014

Marlys said:
Yes, I would capitalize "great" in that case--I wasn't sure, so double-checked with a couple of style guides, and it should follow Holy Father, Almighty God, etc., in which the adjective also gets capitalized.

Ah, I see. Now that you mention it, I can't bring to mind an instance where an adjective used before God, etc. is not capitalized. But then, aren't such examples usually classed as extensions of the proper noun? I mean, would any adjective be capitalized, or just the ones that are accepted as versions of God's name?

Jamesaritchie · Sep 4, 2014

Scott Kaelen said:
h

The first example is from the King James Bible, but obviously the grammar and punctuation in the KJB is outdated.

Actually, no, most of it is not outdated at all. Use it. That is the correct version. The other are by people who didn't bother looking it up, or who chose a different version of the Bible where some dolt changed the best version to a crummy one.

... ye of little faith?

Scott Kaelen

King Neptune

Scott Kaelen

Marlys

Resist. Love. Go outside.

Scott Kaelen

NRoach

Scott Kaelen

Marlys

Resist. Love. Go outside.

King Neptune

King Neptune

Scott Kaelen

Jamesaritchie