{"id":2437,"date":"2017-05-16T15:08:40","date_gmt":"2017-05-16T20:08:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=2437"},"modified":"2021-12-20T16:13:30","modified_gmt":"2021-12-20T22:13:30","slug":"when-to-add-es-to-a-verb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/pronouns\/when-to-add-es-to-a-verb\/","title":{"rendered":"When to Add es<\/em> to a Verb"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our review of English verbs has included discussion of when to add s <\/em>to a verb<\/a>. You might also wonder when to add es <\/em>to the end of a verb.<\/p>\n

As we point out in that other discussion, only verbs paired with a third-person singular<\/strong>\u00a0noun or pronoun (he, she, boat, courage<\/em>) as a subject add an\u00a0s<\/em> to the end. Similarly, we add es\u00a0<\/em>only to a third-person singular noun or pronoun, with the added condition that the verb ends in a sibilant sound\u2014i.e., one in which the tongue is brought near the roof of the mouth and air is pushed past the tongue to make a hissing sound, such as ss, ch, x, tch, sh, zz.<\/em><\/p>\n

Examples
\n<\/strong><\/em>He watches<\/span> the dog.
\nJim guesses<\/span> the answer.
\nShe washes<\/span> the clothing.
\nSoraya fixes<\/span> broken pipes.<\/p>\n

Note that we do not<\/strong> add es <\/em>if the subject is a plural noun or pronoun or the pronouns I<\/em> or you.<\/em><\/p>\n

Examples
\n<\/strong><\/em>They watch\u00a0the dog.
\nJim and Claire guess\u00a0the answer.
\nI wash\u00a0the clothing.
\nPlumbers fix broken pipes.<\/p>\n

Let’s look at another example:<\/p>\n

My pants and shirt <\/em>[match \/ matches] the attire that the manager <\/em>[wish \/ wishes] for the event.<\/p>\n

This sentence has two sets of subjects and verbs. The first subject is\u00a0pants and shirt<\/em>, which is plural. We would say \u201cthey match,\u201d so the correct verb for the first subject is the plural form, match<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The second subject is\u00a0manager,<\/em> which is singular. We would say \u201cshe wishes,\u201d so the correct verb for the second subject is the singular form, wishes,<\/em> which adds es <\/em>to the end.<\/p>\n

Note also that when a verb is paired with a helping (auxiliary) verb<\/a> such as do, can,<\/em> or should<\/em>, the main verb does not change:<\/p>\n

She does<\/span> wash<\/span> the clothing.
\nHe can<\/span> watch<\/span> the dog.<\/em>
\nJim should<\/span> guess<\/span> the answer.<\/i><\/p>\n

Pop Quiz<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. He and Jenny always [stretch \/ stretches] before exercising.
\n2. Anita [dress \/ dresses] nicely for work.
\n3. The bee [buzz \/ buzzes] by the bush.
\n4. Jake [mix \/ mixes] drinks at the bar.
\n5. The rockets [launch \/ launches] from Cape Canaveral.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz Answers<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. He and Jenny always stretch<\/strong> before exercising.
\n2. Anita dresses<\/strong> nicely for work.
\n3. The bee buzzes<\/strong> by the bush.
\n4. Jake mixes<\/strong> drinks at the bar.
\n5. The rockets launch<\/strong> from Cape Canaveral.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our review of English verbs has included discussion of when to add s to a verb. You might also wonder when to add es to the end of a verb. As we point out in that other discussion, only verbs paired with a third-person singular\u00a0noun or pronoun (he, she, boat, courage) as a subject add […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,26,43,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pronouns","category-singular-vs-plural","category-subject-and-verb-agreement","category-verbs"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2437"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2437"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5726,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2437\/revisions\/5726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}