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Plural versus Inflective Form
Posted: 20 July 2003 06:24 AM   [ Ignore ]
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This is regarding the spelling of the 3-rd-Person Singular form of verbs which take the final "S".  
In the table below, the handling of the first 2 is simple, but it is the last 3 which trouble me.  

Q. Since the plural of the noun changes the form substantially, what about the inflective form in the 3-rd-Pers Singular: is it like the plural noun or is it simply with an added "S"??


ENGLISH = The Plural /vs/ the thrid-person-singular inflection
Singular   Plural        I/You      /_HE_/
Shake      Shakes     Shake      Shakes
Slice        Slices        Slice         Slices
Try          Tries         Try           Trys
Fly           Flies          Fly           Flys
Empty     Empties     Empty      Emptys

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Posted: 20 July 2003 08:02 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 1 ]
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I am quite mystified in looking at your chart. Either I’m reading this wrong, or you have singular and plural mixed up.
/Legislators legislate/ is correct english, but by your chart it looks like it would be /Legislators legislates/, which is clearly wrong.
I think also I may have misunderstood your question, but I will take a stab at this too:
I slice / We slice
You slice / You slice
He slices / They slice

The third person singular does thus have the -s at the end.

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Posted: 20 July 2003 10:15 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 2 ]
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Hugh is wondering how to spell the 3rd person singular forms. The "slice/slices" etc. are nouns, if I understand his post.

He tries many times, but his tries are in vain.
When he flies, he is bothered by flies.
He empties the empties.

I doubt that anyone would accept "flys, emptys, trys".

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Posted: 20 July 2003 03:23 PM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 3 ]
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Olowkow got it exactly right. We have to differentiate between nouns and verbs. Unfortunately, sometimes they can look exactly the same. Third person singular verbs generally take the -s. That’s a good rule. Nouns take the -s as a plural form. Thus, perhaps, the confusion.

Welcome to the Agora, hugh.

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Posted: 25 July 2003 07:34 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 4 ]
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However, in addition to the -s, the rule is that the -y changes, to -ies.  It doesn’t matter if it’s a noun or a verb.

-Tim

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Posted: 25 July 2003 08:29 AM   [ Ignore ]   [ # 5 ]
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Hugh, check this post by Katy.  ;)

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