Article outline

• 6.1Introduction
• 6.2A short history of the rise and fall of thou
  • 6.2.1The pre-eighteenth-century use of thou
  • 6.2.2Eighteenth-century grammars on the use of thou
• 6.3 Thou in eighteenth-century letters
• 6.4 Thou on closer view
  • 6.4.1The contextual use of thou
  • 6.4.2The most prolific “thouer”: Ignatius Sancho in focus
• 6.5The use of thou in CEECE
  • 6.5.1The influence of social and linguistic norms
  • 6.5.2A marker of status and intimacy – and of interpersonal identity?
• 6.6Conclusions
• Acknowledgments
• Notes