why is it in English, the singular noun is followed by a plural verb and viceversa?

Question

why make it this way to make it easy. a singular noun followed by singular verb. for example. he run to the church instead of the ussual he runs to the church. it is more simple right?

Answer 1

When I was training to be an English teacher, one of my fellow student-teachers said something like what you're saying, that the "s" at the end of the 3rd-person singular makes it "plural". I hope she failed, because that's a really silly way to look at it.

English is apparently very odd in that only the third-person singular is "marked"--meaning that the form is different from the basic form of the verb. In almost all other languages, the third-person-singular (which is really the most common "person" to talk about (since it includes things, events, feelings, etc. as well)) is if anything the closest to the base form. Apparently though the reason is that in older forms of English there were many more endings, and only the "s" stuck, perhaps BECAUSE it was most used. (It didn't exactly stick either, even as recently as Shakespeare's day the ending was occasionally still "th" or "eth" (He runneth, he doth).)

Yes, your way is simpler, and possibly English will eventually lose the third-person "s", but it's also helpful in complicated sentences to identify the subject.

Answer 2

First of all, the word "he" is not a noun. It's a pronoun.

As for the verb run, and its form for third person singular ending with the letter s, I guess it does make it confusing for people who are trying to learn English as a second language. Acutally, it's no fun for people who learn English as a primary language either.

Try to keep in mind that just because the verb run ends with the letter s, doesn't mean it's plural. And also, just because the verb run ends without the letter s doesn't mean it's singular.

I run..................singular
You run.............singular
He runs.............singular
We run..............plural
You run..............plural
They run............plural

Answer 3

"Runs" is the third person singular verb. Adding an 's' only makes nouns plural - not verbs.

Answer 4

Just be thankful that in English 5 out of 6 of our regular verb forms are the same, unlike in other languages where they're almost all different, or there are many different kinds of verbs. (regluar, I mean) Adding the "s" doesn't make it plural, it's just the 3rd person singluar of the verb.

Answer 5

You completely misunderstand the difference between a singular verb and a plural verb.

If you start with a nonsense premise, don't be surprised if the conclusion is likewise nonsense.

Answer 6

Because a "team" is an entity, just as the government is a collective entity. One unit is singular. Therefore, "The team" would be consider as one just as "the government" would be considered as one. However, should you say "the members of the team" or "the members of the government" you would now be using plural nouns.

Answer 7

I suppose because English is a relatively young language and really hasn't had time to become much more sophisticated as some other languages have.

Answer 8

Nabi is right. I took French in H.S. (mistake number one), and there's like 5,309 different ways to say is. Maybe not actually, but it sure seems like it when you're trying to put together a sentence. We have "Is" and "Are"... job done!

Answer 9

In your example, "he run to the church" it is simply incorrect grammar

Answer 10

Sorry, tried to delete my answer but that doesn't seem possible anymore.