What is the correct phrasal construction "Protect you and yours" or "Protect yourself and yours"? Are they both acceptable? Thank you.
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4The idiom is you and yours. Once a phrase is frozen like this, it's immune to ordinary rules like reflexivization. – John Lawler Jun 10 '20 at 17:02
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1Depends on the context. – Hot Licks Jun 10 '20 at 17:26
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Depending upon context, either could be correct (and the other wrong).
Consider the trick for "Fred and I" versus "Fred and me", where one changes the phrase to "we" or "us", or simply omits the "Fred and":
- "We want to …" or "I want to …" suggests "Fred and I want to …"
- "… gave it to us" or "… gave it to me" suggests "… gave it to Fred and me"
The same thing works here if you omit "and yours":
"The bodyguard will protect you" suggests "The bodyguard will protect you and yours."
"Be sure to protect yourself" suggests "Be sure to protect yourself and yours."
Ray Butterworth
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1John Lawler says that freezing of forms trumps logical patterning. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 30 '20 at 14:30