CB's explanation is 100% right on. It is a linguistic question dealing with phonology. By the way, the same principle is in play with the plural noun ending 's/es': 's' after a non-voiced consonant (lamps, desks); 'z'

I agree with Mandy. The distinction is between voiced consonants and vowels (b, v, m, etc.and vowles) and unvoiced consonants (p, f, k, etc.). So, kick -> kicksss, dog -> dogzzz, guy -> guyzzz. When you have a word that ends in S, the

Thank you very much CJ, Zerox, and Carson. You all have given me very valuable advices. After reading through all you said carefully, and then watching a couple of English TV programmes, I believe I can now tell the difference! The ending /z/ in

Digger36 wrote: But what about the SPECIAL cases of the inflection on the 3-rd person singular; it seems less obvious, as in these cases .. he destroys / destroies sand dunes he trys / tries jumping high he carrys / carries the load

There are three possible pronunciations of the plural ending. (The third person present tense verb forms and the possessive forms follow the same pattern.) 1. /iz/ after a sibilant. This ending creates an extra syllable. The

Here are a few basic grammar rules to pay close attention to: When you write "a" or "an" before a noun, it has to match the noun. This is done simply by using "a" if the word starts with a consonant, and using "an" if the word starts with a

Well, latha, generally speaking, the rule says that between two vowels the sound must be pronounced /z/, as well as when you write and and sometimes . If it is next to consonants or it is written as a sibilant, then it must be pronounced /s/. For

Hi Timbo, nice to meet you - haven't talked to you yet, have I? Where in Australia are you from? As I can see, your e-mail address is not an Australian one - do you live in Switzerland at the moment? I was wondering you knew about the