In Verbs^x, Inflections^x, Genitives^x

Pemmican wrote: The "-s" is the most common suffix left in English by now, it took over several functions: a) plural indicator: one apple - two apples b) 3rd ps sg inflection indicator: sing - he sings c) genitive ending: Jon's house In my opinion, the -s in b) will certainly disappear...

korin said: >Over approximately 1500 years, the mammoth set of inflections of the Old English has virtually been discarded leaving only 's' (plural nouns, 3rd person singular verbs, and saxon genitive) in modern English. English has become a rather analytic lg, where most of the syntactic...

The "-s" is the most common suffix left in English by now, it took over several functions: a) plural indicator: one apple - two apples b) 3rd ps sg inflection indicator: sing - he sings c) genitive ending: Jon's house It would be erroneous to say that the suffixes in a), b) and c) are...

The "-s" is the most common suffix left in English by now, it took over several functions: a) plural indicator: one apple - two apples b) 3rd ps sg inflection indicator: sing - he sings c) genitive ending: Jon's house In my opinion, the -s in b) will certainly disappear sometime, it was...

>I do not claim that the plural ending 's' will definitely disappear. However, looking at the direction the English language is heading, the disappearance would come as no surprise. >Over approximately 1500 years, the mammoth set of inflections of the Old English has virtually been discarded...

I do not claim that the plural ending 's' will definitely disappear. However, looking at the direction the English language is heading, the disappearance would come as no surprise. Over approximately 1500 years, the mammoth set of inflections of the Old English has virtually been discarded...

Miriam, Many thanks for your thoughtful expansion of Pem's analysis. I'll first address the specific questions you've raised, then re-state more thoroughly the case which the Cambridge book is making for the gerund's redefinition. Consider the following two sentences: 1. I can't stand...