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Anonymous Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

When to add "s"

Sometimes i see people say phrases like "music never die" or "dies". When do we use the third person singular? I thought it should always be applicable in phrases above. Much appreciated if anyone could clear my doubts. Thanks.
  

Top answer

Hi, Music never die is incorrect English. Clive

— Clive

  • Hi, Music never die is incorrect English.
  • Clive
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9 Answers
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Hi,

Music never die is incorrect English.

Clive
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It is a common ESL error. In some languages the verbs are different to English and learners have difficulties as they are transposing from their first languages. In English, the added 's' for verbs is doing something different than when we add an 's' to make a noun plural. The 's' in 'dies' is added to indicate that the subject is in the plural form. Even though 'music' in your sentence means more
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KosmoThe 's' in 'dies' is added to indicate that the subject is in the plural form.
No -- verbs forms ending in "s" correspond to third person singular subjects, not plural.

He/she/it dies.

I/you/we/they die.
KosmoIt must take the singular form of the verb: 'Music never dies' or pronoun substitute 'It never die
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Thanks everyone. How about "Long live the queen"? It should be "Long lives the queen" because it = "The queen lives long", right? If the sentence is said as a "slogan", will the third person singular "s" be omitted?
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No, this phrase is one of a short list of formulaic subjunctives still existing in English:

Long live the Queen
*** bless you
Come what may
etc.
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Thanks. What are the rules for these formulaic subjunctives?
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No rules beyond those applying to subjunctives in general: they are formulaic, which means (I think) that they are a limited set of old phrases still in use. You should find them as one subsection of your grammar book on subjunctive or places like here:

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Yes yes, you're quite right.
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