Yesterday, I told you about the woman who spoke perfect English except…
She forgot the third-person “s.”
Such a simple rule.
You say, “I bite,” “you bite” and “he/she/it bites.”
Not hard at all.
But a LOT of students forget this rule.
And they forget the rule about adding an “s” to make a word plural.
And they say “he” when they want to say “she”, or vice versa.
What’s going on?!
Well, according to my favorite linguist, Dr. Stephen Krashen, this makes perfect sense.
In his Natural Order Hypothesis he explains that humans use language rules correctly in the same order.
And that order is not the same order that’s in your grammar book.
In other words, just because you know a rule, doesn’t mean you will use it correctly.
According to Krashen, using the third-person “s” is one of the last grammar rules non-native speakers use correctly when speaking.
Your brain will do everything correctly when it is ready.
Not when you’re ready.
Isn’t that interesting?
Very interesting 👍🏻👍🏻
VERY INTERESTING
Cool ! Thank you
There is interesting case of how our brains work. Thank you for sharing your knowledges. 🙏
Da, este corect și toti știm regula dar… este un pic mai dificil sa o aplicam.
Va veni el insa si momentul acela !!
I don’t remember that rule and always forget “s”.
Yes, I think it make sense!
Very interesting, thanks
Yes, it’s a kind of problem but not as big as theuse of 16 tenses.))
But how do you know when your brain is ready ? I think it’s at the time when you start thinking in English.
Yes, interesting! Thank you for writing about this! I thought I’m the only one who forgets it 😂
In Croatian we have different endings for each person. For the first, second and third. And also for the three persons in the plural. And that is natural when we speak. So it must be natural in English too. Let’s hope it comes in our lifetime.
I would hardly say the same for foreigners who learn Croatian. Too much, too difficult for non native speakers. Be patient and understanding!
thank you for your advice
Interesting… Our language has many different endings…
I never studied them. It was all in my head when I was ready.
And by endings I mean place endings https://users.jyu.fi/~pamakine/kieli/suomi/sijat/sijapaatteeten.html
Hi, it is right. I forgot those basic and simply words.
Yes it is interesting. An native english speaker said me than french person who learned english in the road, with people who didn’t speak very good english, will certainely do this mistake. Is it right ?
I have that noticed too, that “s” is missing often and she/he are mixed. Then I doubt in my skills, because others seemed to be talking fluently.
Messing with genders is a bit understandable about Estonians, because we don’t have genders. Yes, we do have men and women and stallions and mares, but we don’t separate them with impersonal words. If you didn’t listened the topic at the beginning, you don’t know is the talk about man or woman. Mistakes are made on base of your own language.
Hi Ryan,
This is very interesting. Actually, I’ve already noticed what you mean. When I speak English regularly, and especially every day on the chats, I observe that a music slips into my speech and that music helps me not to forget the “s”. All of a sudden, it becomes natural… That’s what I like. That’s the moment I really enjoy speaking English. When my brain is ready. And it makes a big difference.
Thank you Brian, your method taught me that.