Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[perspectives]

Hi,

Is "You must be excused." equal to "You must me excuse." and " You must excuse me."? If so, does it mean: You have to forgive me (that something you said, proposed, etc is not able to be done.)

Thank you for your help!

[CP]

"You must be excused" doesn't really make much sense. "You must me excuse" is not grammatical, and would not be said by any native speaker. The grammar is more like what would be normal in Spanish or French.

On the other hand, "You must excuse me" is perfectly good English, and would be interpreted to mean, "Please excuse me."
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[perspectives]

Thank you, CP.

You must be excused appears in here: http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Her-Mantle-So-Green-lyrics-Sinead-O'Connor/B42A5CACF076EBF648256C370014DBAE

[nickalc]

Well, the usage shown appeared to be some poems, which is different from regular English usage.

I agree with CP that you don't say it or write it this way in regular English expression.

[perspectives]

Thank you, nickalc.

[CP]

Here's what I think:

It's an old song, and the original lyrics were probably the second one you listed:

She answered, "Kind sir, you must me excuse,
I will wed with no other, you must be refused;

This means, "She answered, 'Kind sir, you must excuse me, but I will not marry anyone else, so I must refuse you.'"

The Sinead O'Connor version is a little different:

Says she now, "My Young man, you must be excused,
For I'll wed with no man, so you must be refused;

I believe it is different because it was misremembered or misheard--or probably both. Misremembered in the first part, misheard in the "you must be excused" part.

As for "you must me excuse" for "you must excuse me," it's pretty common in poetry to rearrange words to make the lines rhyme, and putting the direct object before, rather than after, the verb was more common a few hundred years ago.
_________________
You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[perspectives]

Thank you, CP, for your confirmation on my question.