Why water have a s to verb?

Question

Hi.I want to know why water have a s to verb ?Let you see the follow.The water boils at 100 degree.Why not boil? I'm confusing.

GPY · Accepted Answer

"water" (in the sense relevant here) is an uncountable noun. For the purposes of verb agreement, uncountable nouns are treated as singular.

(The) water boils at 100 degrees.

If you are talking about water in general, omit "The".

Blue Jay · Answer

The water is a singular noun, so you use the third person singular form of the verb.
I boil.
You boil.
He/she/it boils.
We boil.
They boil.

Tara668 · Answer

Can you explain why it is confusing?

For example, are you comfortable with the pattern:

"The dogs bark" but "The dog barks" ?

If you're ok with that, then this should follow:

Water boils.

(And waters boil, although it's harder to come up with an example. Maybe "All the waters of the oceans boil because she put a curse upon the earth..." - not exactly common usage.)

You might have a lot of water, but it's not one of those nouns you can count, you just have some quantity of it: a lot of water, a few cups of water, but still it's just water. It's singular, so you need the "s" on your verb.

Similarly, "water has", not "water have" (see your first line).

Carter, will you tell me something? If you ask a question, and I see errors in your post in general, do you want me to correct those? (for example: "Let you see the follow." ==> "I will let you see the following.") I am assuming that any corrections are helpful, but if you just want to focus on your question, I'll try to stop myself!

(Until then: water boils at 100 degrees - not degree. Also, I'm confused or this is confusing, not I'm confusing. I'm confusing has a different meaning.)

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Carter Lee Hi.I want to know why water have a s to verb ?Let you see the follow.The water boils at 100 degree.Why not boil? I'm confusing.

Because in the simple present tense, the verb gets the ending -s or -es or -ies when the subject is third person singular.

I do
you do
we do
they do
he does

I boil water for tea.
You boil water for tea.
He boils water for tea. Water boils at 100 degrees Centigrade.
They boil water for tea.

Carter Lee · Answer

Thanks, But I'm not sure what answer is right to you.
Do you know the time function or harmonic function in Electronics? What if you want to know above things If you asking someone above things what would you do just first? Put yourself in my shoes. Then you can understand about why I confused that.
Any way. your my best teacher. I always want you to correct and comments. I love it your activities and I always appreciate you.
Thanks. Keep going it.

But I'm not sure as to what you want to me, I can't find your point.

Carter Lee · Answer

tara668Can you explain why it is confusing?For example, are you comfortable with the pattern:"The dogs bark" but "The dog barks" ?If you're ok with that, then this should follow:Water boils.(And waters boil, although it's harder to come up with an example. Maybe "All the waters of the oceans boil because she put a curse upon the earth..." - not exactly common usage.)You might have a lot of water, but it's not one of those nouns you can count, you just have some quantity of it: a lot of water, a few cups of water, but still it's just water. It's singular, so you need the "s" on your verb.Similarly, "water has", not "water have" (see your first line).Carter, will you tell me something? If you ask a question, and I see errors in your post in general, do you want me to correct those? (for example: "Let you see the follow." ==> "I will let you see the following.") I am assuming that any corrections are helpful, but if you just want to focus on your question, I'll try to stop myself!(Until then: water boils at 100 degrees - not degree. Also, I'm confused or this is confusing, not I'm confusing. I'm confusing has a different meaning.)

Thanks, But I'm not sure what answer is right to you.
Do you know the time function or harmonic function in Electronics? What if you want to know above things If you asking someone above things what would you do just first? Put yourself in my shoes. Then you can understand about why I confused that.
Any way. your my best teacher. I always want you to correct and comments. I love it your activities and I always appreciate you.
Thanks. Keep going it.

But I'm not sure as to what you want to me, I can't find your point in ' if you just want to focus on your question'.

Tara668 · Answer

Hi Carter,

I'm sorry that I was unclear. What I meant when I asked "Why is it confusing?" was this:

Maybe you didn't know the rule for singular/plural nouns and the verbs that go with them. I used the example "The dogs bark, but the dog barks."

Or maybe you understand that rule and the confusion came from the fact that water is a strange thing. We can talk about alot of water but still call it water (singular) and not waters. So it is just some quantity of water, and we treat it as a singular noun, and we put an "s" on the verb. (When you see the word "uncountable", that's what they're talking about. Different from dogs. You can have one dog or two dogs or three dogs, etc., but if you have more water you still just call it water.)

So when I asked you about your confusion, I was trying to determine which issue was the problem.

(I am a mathematician so I actually know something about harmonic functions. When I don't understand something, I try to be as specific as possible in the way I ask my question. But I know that can be hard, especially if more than one thing is confusing at the same time.

Once I was teaching a calculus course and a student asked me "why is the derivative of e^x e^x?" Now that can be a very deep question, or possibly the student just wanted to know why it wasn't xe^(x-1) {EEEEEEEK!!!!!} - the first thing I needed to do before addressing her question was to find out just what she was asking.)

So maybe we can each put ourselves in the other's shoes.

And thank you for the feedback about feedback. I'll keep giving it as long as you want it.

Tara668 · Answer

Hi again Carter,

I didn't see the last part of your post; I'll respond to that now. Although I think you already answered my question.

Once, when I was learning a second language, I started going to a club where everyone used that language. At first I was struggling with basic communication, and I was just talking for practice. I was very happy every time someone would correct me. They were helping me and I appreciated it. But after a while, I got to know some of these people, started to develop relationships (friends, or at least acquaintances with a little personal history) and sometimes I would have something I really wanted to say to them. Sometimes what I wanted to say was important to me. At those times, if someone would correct me, that was very frustrating to me. I just wanted them to listen, ignore my mistakes, and answer my question or think about what I had to say. I didn't want them to interrupt my story to say "that word was wrong" etc.

So, when you asked a question about why we use an 's' on the verb, I thought "Maybe I should just answer that question and say nothing else. Or maybe Carter would like feedback on other mistakes in the whole post." I didn't want you to be unhappy, and I didn't know what you prefer, so that's why I asked.

I'm only writing this because you said I confused you with the way I asked. But think you've already answered: you want all the feedback, so I will keep commenting on things when I see them and when I have time to write.

Tara668 · Answer

Carter, one other thing.

(Wow, I'm writing a book here!)

I want to apologize if anything I said seemed disrespectful, and I want to clarify.

We are writing in English, which is my native language, and I'm making corrections, so I'm in very comfortable territory. But I want you to know that I have a huge amount of respect for you and anyone else trying to communicate in a language they are learning. Especially English. The more I learn about my own language the more I am amazed that anyone is able to learn it. So many strange exceptions to rules, so many times we use a word to mean something other than what we say it means, other than what we probably think it means; it can be crazy!

When I write in a foreign language I make lots of mistakes. I often feel silly, and I know it can be very hard, both intellectually and emotionally. I want you to know I appreciate that and I respect what you're doing.

Carter Lee · Answer

Thanks.

If you don't mind would you please give to me your email address ?
I want to tell you something. Here is my address. love.theme gmail[Deleted by moderator. Please note contact information on your profile page]
Then you don't need making a book any more.

Many Thanks.

Why water have a s to verb?

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