Do you know Daddy loves you?

  1. Do you know Daddy loves you?
  2. Do you know, I, Daddy, loves you?

In the second sentence, should it be “love” because of the antecedent “I”?

Thanks!

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Though proximity may confuse us, the word ‘daddy’ is in apposition. So, the verb needs to be in tune with the actual subject ‘I’.

(I’d like @Torsten’s or @Alan’s confirmation of my view since it is a tricky question)

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I don’t understand the second sentence.

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I don’t either, Torsten. That second sentence is definitely a dog’s breakfast and in need of a major operation.
My suggestion -
You must know that as your Daddy, I love you.

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This is horrid.

The underlying principle of all grammar is readability. Even if a sentence is grammatically correct, it’s still not correct if it’s not readable. When a sentence this short causes the reader to pause while they figure it out then something is wrong.

Do you know that I love you?
Do you know that Daddy loves you?

Do you know that I (your daddy) love / loves you?
Do you know that I, your daddy, love / loves you?

To my ears the word ‘loves’ sounds right, but I don’t know if it is.

This is dialog. Who the heck says something like that? It’s bad style if nothing else.

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Thank you, Alan. It was an unintelligible statement. It could have been much better with this:
Do you know, Daddy, how much I love you?

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I definitely agree with @NearlyNapping’s last statement.

I assume that the text is intended for a young child, since the speaker is referring to himself by a name rather than a pronoun.
The idea of using a question to make a statement would seem a bit complex in this situation, as does using Daddy in apposition.
I think that the take away from this complexity by both the toddler and us is simply “Daddy loves you.” which is why loves sounds right even if love is grammatically correct.
In addition, if the speaker needs to make the point that I = Daddy, there is some explanation required. It can’t just be dropped in the middle of a sentence.

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You might also say “I’m your Daddy and I love you, my sweetheart”. This sentence is probably too complex for a toddler to fully process but if you keep repeating the phrase over a longer period of time they eventually will understand it and they will also have learned a number of concepts and grammar structures in the process.

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It might be used to emphasize the point.

Maybe Darth Vader is messing with Luke’s head.

Darth: I am your father.
Luke: Noooooo!
Darth: I, your daddy, am going to kill you.
Luke: Noooooo!

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But would Darth Vader be messing with Luke’s head scaring his only child to no end when all he really wants is to be the best Daddy to ever roam the universe?

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Then, I don’t think we can say thus: Darth: I, your daddy, am going to kill you. (Contradictory, NearlyNapping.)
But, the active and original subject being I, the verb should agree with it.

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There is nothing contradictory about it. In both cases I wrote what sounds best to me. I know full well that ‘I’ is the subject in both sentences, but I don’t care. If it sounds right to me, that’s the way I’m going to say it.

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I meant this contradiction.

Do you know that I (your daddy) love / loves you?
Do you know that I, your daddy, love / loves you?

  1. To my ears the word ‘loves’ sounds right, but I don’t know if it is.

  2. Darth: I, your daddy, am going to kill you.

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I know what you meant. Both sound right to me, therefore they are right.

You seem to think that there are some kind of rigid rules that must be applied, and you see a contradiction when they are not. But there is no such thing as rules that must be applied.

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I completely agree with this statement. There is no such thing as “rules” when it comes to grammar, because rules are created by an authority or an organization. Nobody regulates the English language, so there can be no rules. There are only patterns. Patterns emerge. You can study them, analyse them, classify them, but you can’t create them or control them.

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That’s exactly what it is. People determine language. When that language is analyzed, taken apart and classified we call it grammar. Grammar helps us understand the language. By the time a child has their first grammar lesson they already know the language pretty well.

It’s human nature to lose the essence of things. We see it in language, religion, the law, government, etc. After a while it’s the grammar, religion or government that matters, not where it came from or why it exists.

If someone is taking a language proficiency test, they need to understand the language. The grammar does not dictate language. But knowing the grammar shows an understanding of the language. That’s the entire purpose of grammar.

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Torsten, there was no mention of the word rules in the early part of the discussion.

Usually, I use ‘practice’ in place of ‘rules’. We are far, far away from being prescriptive!

Whatever it be, I only meant the need for consistency as I was pointing out the shift from one to another while just one was in conformity with the practice being followed.

Though I’m disappointed at the likelihood of my observation being blown out of proportion, I hope that the participants discuss differences, if any, the way that characterizes our forum.

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I introduced the topic of “grammar rules” because the vast majority of our forum users are conditioned to cram “grammar rules” into their heads, which causes most of them a lot of stress and frustration.

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Yes.
(But this must be twenty characters)

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