with their subjects. The single rule determines subject-verb in number agreement” (615). However, Faigley does not consider into his explanation of subject-verb person agreement. Even if the subject is singular, first person—I, and third person—he/she/it is conjugated differently for virtually all English verbs. Subjects and verbs, then, must agree in and person number. When I studied Spanish, as an undergraduate, I found to be quite verb conjugation challenging, because each combination of and of regular verbs has a person number different suffix. Consider, for example, the present-tense conjugation of the verb caminar: Singular Plural First Person: yo nosostros/ -as camino caminamos Second Person: tú vosostros/ -as caminas camináis Third Person: él/ella/usted ellos/ellas/ustedes camina caminan Verb (“Spanish Conjugator”) In English, the equivalent present tense conjugation of the verb is remarkably to walk simpler: Singular: Plural: First Person: I we walk walk Second Person: you you walk walk Third Person: he/she/it they walks walk Verb conjugation is actually one of the only things about English that is less complicated than most other languages. Even as simple as this is, some people still manage to get it
in number with their subjects. The single rule determines subject-verb agreement” (615). However, Faigley does not consider person into his explanation of subject-verb agreement. Even if the subject is singular, first person—I, and third person—he/she/it is conjugated differently for virtually all English verbs. Subjects and verbs, then, must agree in person and number. When I studied Spanish, as an undergraduate, I found verb conjugation to be quite challenging, because each combination of person and number of regular verbs has a different suffix. Consider, for example, the present-tense conjugation of the verb caminar: Singular Plural First Person: yo camino nosostros/ -as caminamos Second Person: tú caminas vosostros/ -as camináis Third Person: él/ella/usted camina ellos/ellas/ustedes caminan (“Spanish Verb Conjugator”) In English, the equivalent present tense conjugation of the verb to walk is remarkably simpler: Singular: Plural: First Person: I walk we walk Second Person: you walk you walk Third Person: he/she/it walks they walk Verb conjugation is actually one of the only things about English that is less complicated than most other languages. Even as simple as this is, some people still manage to get it