Subject-Verb Agreement, Imperative Sentences – Why Isn’t Third Person Singular Used in ‘The Lord Bless You’?

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I saw the following statement within the Longman Dictionary:

The Lord bless you and keep you.

But I think it should be like below:

The Lord blesses you and keeps you.

Because The Lord is a single entity. Am I right? If not, why?

Best Answer

No, “the Lord bless you” is the subjunctive, indicating that the speaker wishes for the Lord to bless you. Changing it to “blesses” would therefore change the meaning.

Wikipedia explains that this is specifically an example of the unembedded subjunctive, giving other examples:

Subjunctive clauses can occasionally occur unembedded, with the force of a wish or a third person imperative (and such forms can alternatively be analyzed as imperatives). This is commonest nowadays in formulaic remnants of archaic optative constructions, such as "(God) bless you", "God save the Queen", "heaven forbid", "peace be with you" (any of which can instead start with may: "May God bless you", etc.); "long live…"; "truth be told", "so be it", "suffice it to say", "woe betide…", and more.

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