In Word order^x, Genitives^x

I always thought it was a remnant of the French (Norman Invasion, 1066). There is a handful of verbs in French conjugated with "to be" rather than "to have" in the passé composé (past) tense. Rise, born, arrive, leave, go (all "coming and going" verbs) are some examples. We also sing "He is...

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...

>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...

Interesting question. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition (referenced at dictionary.com) has this to say : Some speakers of vernacular English varieties, particularly in isolated or mountainous regions of the southern United States, use phrases such as of a...