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Ask for help > The state of verbs in First Personal Pronoun ´I ´
The state of verbs in First Personal Pronoun ´I ´
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Mtani
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The state of verbs in First Personal Pronoun ´I ´
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From the semantic point of view, why main verbs, when are used with first personal pronoun singular ´I ´ in simple present, remain in their base forms as with other plural personal pronouns? |
11 Sep 2013
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Yolandaprieto
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There is not a reason, it ´s just like that. It probably has to do with the way the language has evolved but only linguists know that.
Yolanda
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11 Sep 2013
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douglas
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The same goes for "you" as a 2nd person singular personal pronoun--the question is why the third person singular doesn ´t follow the rule.
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11 Sep 2013
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yanogator
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In Elizabethan times, both the second and third persons had endings on them in the singular (I speak, thou speakest, he speaketh). Over the centuries, the second person lost its ending, and the third-person ending was simplified to "s". As Yolanda said, languages just change.
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11 Sep 2013
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Mtani
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I have a thinking that English pronouns have a sense of gender; masculine, feminine and neuter. Gender is an element of grammar like other elements such as number and case. So, for third personal pronoun singular; He/She/it have a clear gender and number. What the verb does in the subject-verb agreement is to check and balance these grammatical elements (number and gender). That is to say if the verb fails to identify any of the two elements, especially in the simple present form, it remains silent in its base form like it does with other plural personal pronouns which again they do not have the sense of Gender. For example; He/She/It are masculine, feminine and neuter respectively. But, You, we, they, and I do not fall in any of the three gender classes. So, when the verb checks the gender of ´I ´ it fails to identify exactly as it does with the You, we, and they.
What do you think about this case?
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11 Sep 2013
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Peter Hardy
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My dear Mtani, knowing where it all comes from won ´t help your students much. The old rules are just that: old. As most languages English has evolved and we use different rules (grammar) now. If you ´re really interested in old languages, you could start studying Latin. It ´s a dead language, though, and it didn ´t help me much in learning English, but it has all the stuff you ´re interested in. German is a good choice, too, for the same reason. Otherwise, go with the flow and learn the rules as they are now. Unless you want to be a scholar, but I suppose you may need a different website. Good luck with your research. Cheers.
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12 Sep 2013
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yanogator
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Mtani, To answer your direct question, in English, the verb is not associated with gender, just with person and number. Bruce |
12 Sep 2013
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