Verb-Tense Agreement

Talk with some one on English grammar. How do you think they will respond? Phobia galore that's what they will exhibit. They say there are just too many rules and it is difficult for a non-native speaker to remember when speaking or writing English.

What do you think?

I think English rules are learnable. Yes, there may be confusion of singulars and plurals; on irregular verbs and idioms and phrasal verbs. Most people however fumble with verb-tense agreement or concordance.

To me, it is very simple.

There are singular subjects and singular verbs. Subjects such as I and you will take singular verbs. For example: I walk. You walk. For subjects like he, she and it, the verbs will always be an action word with an 's' added to it. Therefore: he walks; she walks; it walks.

Plural subjects will have plural verbs. Therefore: We walk;they walk. There is no 's' added to such action words.

In the 'to be' category; it is always: I am and You are. The past tense will be: I was, he was, she was and it was . Take note: You always take the plural both in present and in the past tense. Thus, you are and you were.

Heartsong