Verb forms with “I” or “Q”
I am very confused in the pronoun “I”. I mean just say and look. Can you help me? Why does, given the singular plural sense of ‘have’, we use the verb ‘have’ with ‘I’ not “has!” “I” is singular but again we don’t use (l, es, ies) with the verb while making the sentence of present tense.
The inflection with -s is used only in the simple present and only with the third person singular, not with the first person (the person speaking) or second person (the person addressed).
I / we / you and they could have / run / push / &c
he / she / it ha s/run s/ push es/&c One verb, BE, employs an inflection with
-s (was) in the simple past for both first and third person singular. but BE is quite different from all other verbs.
A few verbs, the modals can/could, may/might, must, shall/should, would/would are defective : they have no inflection with -s even in the present third person singular. They also lack participles, and the “plain” form is never used as an infinitive or imperative.
What is the difference between single pronouns and plural pronouns? What makes them so distinct? In English, the meaning (including’singular’ and ‘plural’) doesn’t always match up with grammar (including verb agreement).
Thinking about’singular’ and ‘plural’ may help with regard to she/he/it has (singular) and they have (plural). I would say that it doesn’t help to thinking about “you have” and “you have” both – ‘you’ takes the ‘plural’ verb whether I am talking to one person or more than one person.
And it doesn’t help with ‘i’ (singular in meaning but plural in grammar (most of the time)) and ‘we’ (plural in meaning and plural in grammar).
Why do some words work differently? StoneyB has mentioned verb BE as working differently from other verbs. What is differences between ‘I’ and ‘you’?
