The categories of person and number

The category of person in Indo-European languages serves to present an action as associated by the speaker (1) with himself (or a group of people including the speaker), (2) the person or people addressed, and (3) the person or thing (people or things) not participating in the process of speech. Or in other words, B.A. Ilyish writes that the category of person in verbs is represented by the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^d person, and it expresses the relation between the speaker, the person or people addressed, and other people and things. The 1^st person expresses the speaker or a group of which the speaker makes a part. The 2^nd person expresses the person or people spoken to, and the 3^rd person implies that person or thing (or those people or things) who/which are neither the speaker nor the person(s) spoken to.

The category of person is practically represented by the two-member opposition: speak – speaks, am - is. The person opposition is neutralized when associated with “plural” meaning. Nevertheless A.I. Smirnitsky thinks that owing to the presence of the plural personal pronouns (we, you, they) personal distinctions are felt in the plural of the verb as well. B.S. Khaimovich & B.I. Rogovskaya criticize this view. They hold that if the verb itself does not show any person distinctions we are bound to admit that in modern English the verb in the plural has no person.

The category of number shows whether the action is associated with one doer or with more than one. Accordingly it denotes something fundamentally different from what is indicated by the number of nouns. We see here not the “oneness” or “more than oneness” of actions, but the connection with the single or plural doer. As M. Bryant puts is, “ He eats three times a day ” does not indicate a single eating but a single eater.

The category of number is represented in its purity in the opposition of the forms was ÷ were and accordingly in all analytical forms containing was ÷ were (was writing ÷ were writing, was written ÷ were written).

In such forms as I am – you are, he is – they are, I am – we are - the number is blended with person. Likewise in such forms as speaks ÷ speak (He speaks – They speak) we actually have the 3^d person singular as opposed to the non-3^d person singular. That proves the fact that the categories of person and number are closely connected with each other.

It should be mentioned that some verbs do not distinguish number at all because of their peculiar historical development: I (we) can, he (they) must, etc. These are mainly modal verbs.

In general the category of number is but scantily represented in Modern English.

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