Or should it read "The younger you are the more innocent you tend to be" or "The younger you are the more innocent you are"
3 Answers
The younger you are; the more innocent you may be.
This is not a fact and your original question is not a sentence, which has nothing to do with new or old rules of Grammer usage!
The one in the title is grammatically wrong.
Both of the ones in the body text are grammatically correct. They have different meanings. The "tend to be" phrasing implies that the relationship between youth and innocence is probabilistic. The "are" phrasing implies that the relationship between youth and innocence is absolute. Use whichever one has the meaning you intend.
-
1
-
@marcellothearcane That would be an out to every question ever posted. The question was whether the given phrase is correct. The title is not.– SRMCommented Apr 5, 2017 at 15:56
-
True, except they might have read a bit of speech from someone in the west country - dialect is still english language! Commented Apr 6, 2017 at 20:28
If you intend to follow modern usage,
"The younger you are the more innocent you are.”
or if wish to retain "be",
"The younger you are the more innocent you will be.”
However, if you wish to follow more archaic usage, you may try something like "The younger you be the more innocent you be forsooth.”
For further discussion on authenticity of such "olde" phrasing, see e.g. "there be dragons" etc
