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stressin
Guest
Hello, how do you know what is a singular verb and what is a plural verb? Do they have to be learned or is there a way... for example, the "be" verbs...
thanks in advance
thanks in advance
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stressin said:
Well, verbs are not inherently singular, per se. That is, the endings on the verbs, specifically Present tense verbs, tell us whether the subject is singular or plural. For the most part, only the 3rd person singular of Present tense verbs carries an overt number/agreement marker. Like this,
SINGULAR
I swim
You swim
She swims
He swims
It swims
PLURAL
They swim
You swim
We swim
Notice the verb swim has an -s only with singular subjects She, He, and It.
As for the verb BE, Present tense, we have to learn the forms because they are irregular. That is, they don't follow a pattern like swim:
SINGULAR
I am
you are
She is
He is
It is
PLURAL
They are
You are
We are
As for the verb BE, Past tense,
I was
You were
She was
He was
It was
They were
You were
We were
Again, we have to learn the forms.
As for the future, BE is regular, so we won't have to learn the forms:
I will
You will
She will
He will
It will
They will
You will
We will
The verb HAVE is as follows:
PRESENT: I have, You have, She has, He has, It has, They have, You have, We have
Notice the -s (She has, He has, It has).
PAST: I had, You had, She had, He had, It had, They had, You had, We had.
Hope that helped out some.
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