[Grammar] Let them stay at your home. Let her stay at your home. Let we/us stay at your home.

[Sahil Dhankhar]

I mostly understand that let takes object after it.
In the following sentences, kindly see the meaning.

Let them stay at your home. (It means we are requesting to someone that he should let them (some people) stay at his home.)
Let her stay at your home. (It means we are requesting to someone that he should let her (some girl may be) stay at his home.)

Similarly if we want request someone that he let (we people ) stay at his home, How will we write it?

If we write "Let's stay at your home implies that we are some people and we are suggesting instead of requesting one of us that all of us should stay at his home" but in reality we wanted to request. So, will we use let we stay at your home?

Also is there any difference between "let us" and "let's"?

 

[emsr2d2]

Let us stay at your home (imperative) - You are demanding that someone allows you to stay in their home.
Please let us stay at your home (polite request) - You are asking someone to allow you to stay in their home.
Let's stay at your home! (suggestion) - You are suggesting to the other person that you both stay at that person's home.

No, we never use "Let we ..."

 

[Sahil Dhankhar]

You mean to say that let us and let's have a difference.

Let's - suggestive usage
Let us- usage containing request

 

[Sahil Dhankhar]

Also, what is the breakdown of the sentence in terms of helping verb, main verb, subject, object, prepositional phrase, etc?

 

[jutfrank]

You mean to say that let us and let's have a difference.

Let's - suggestive usage
Let us- usage containing request

Yes.

 

[Tarheel]

We wouldn't say they have a difference
We would say they are used differently.

Let's - Let's go get a hamburger.
Let us - Let us stay at your house tonight.

 

[Sahil Dhankhar]

So, if I want to request someone to let me and my friends stay at his home, I must write "Let us" instead of "Let's".

 

[Sahil Dhankhar]

Please reply to this also -"what is the breakdown of the sentence in terms of helping verb, main verb, subject, object, prepositional phrase, etc?".

 

[emsr2d2]

So, if I want to request someone to let me and my friends stay at his home, I must write "Let us" instead of "Let's".

Yes. However, it would be more natural to say "Could we stay at your house [please]?" or maybe "Would you [please] let us stay at your house?"

 

[Sahil Dhankhar]

Can I get some reference to this fact that "let's" and "let us" are used differently?

 

[Sahil Dhankhar]

Can I get some reference to this fact that "let's" and "let us" are used differently?

 

[Sahil Dhankhar]

I discussed this thing with a friend that "let's" and "let us" have different meaning when used in a sentence but he did not agree to it and asked for some standard reference from a grammar book. He said that "Let's do it" and "Let us do it" both have the exact same meaning and either of them can be used for suggestion indicating usage.

Actually, we were discussing on "question tags".
Based on the discussion I had in this tread, I told him that question tags of the following sentences will be-

Let us play, will you?
Let's play, shall we?
And it will be wrong to say Let us play, shall we?

He asked me why the last sentence is wrong. I told him that in this sentence "let" is not used for suggestive purpose and used for seeking approval from someone and therefore the question tag used is not correct. He did not agree to my reply and asked for some reference.

 

[emsr2d2]

"Let us play" sounds very old-fashioned. It is very stilted and unnatural in modern, everyday English.

In the mid-eighties, I bought a very cheap Greek-English phrasebook (written by a native Greek speaker). One of the example sentences in English, in the section about checking in at a hotel and talking to the owner, was "Put my trunk in the corner and let us speak of the war". It made me roar with laughter and I frequently use it as an example of something that is grammatically correct but, these days, would never be uttered by a native speaker.

 

[jutfrank]

I agree that let us for let's is old-fashioned and unnatural in modern usage. It still exists in certain registers, though: the clerical Let us pray comes to mind.

 

[GoesStation]

In the mid-eighties, I bought a very cheap Greek-English phrasebook (written by a native Greek speaker). One of the example sentences in English, in the section about checking in at a hotel and talking to the owner, was "Put my trunk in the corner and let us speak of the war". It made me roar with laughter and I frequently use it as an example of something that is grammatically correct but, these days, would never be uttered by a native speaker.

Once while I was settling the bill at an Indian restaurant, one of the staff showed me the English instruction book he was studying. I took a quick look and was very impressed by this sample sentence:

"This physician's practice is doing a roaring business."

Whenever I recall that, I always hear it in an Indian accent.

 

[Sahil Dhankhar]

The fine line between natural and grammatical English is what examiners here use as a tool to play.
So I assume that all of the following are grammatically correct-
Let us play, shall we?
Let's play, shall we?
Let's play, will you?
Let them play, will you?
Let them play,shall we?

 

[emsr2d2]

At a push, 5 might be a variant of "Shall we let them play?" or "Let's let them play, shall we?" I can't come up with anything for 3.

 

[Sahil Dhankhar]

Well observed.