# of possible verb declensions
| From: | Christopher B Wright <faceloran@...> |
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| Date: | Wednesday, June 26, 2002, 17:30 |
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taliesin sekalge:
>As a non-native speaker, let me assure you: English verbs are just about
>the worst bit.
Oh, no, my friend. It is you who are mistaken. The worst bit is
memorizing pronunciations. The first rule for pronouncing English words
is that the symbols don't matter.
The verbs aren't nice, though. Joe's estimate was very low. He missed at
least two aspects that can go with any verb or tense, and he didn't
separate plurals from singulars. (The verbs themselves usually don't, but
I count pronouns with verbs, albeit in an ethereal way. Language isn't
absolute, so you can argue and be correct while I am also correct.) Thus,
I get a minimum of 15 basic conjugations, with aspects increasing that to
75...without stacking aspects. Also, there are other aspects that might
not be considered aspects, such as my "abilitative" aspect taking the
place of "can, be able to"; and I don't know all the official aspects.
Combining two official aspects allows for about 750 forms using one or
two aspects with or without negation.
Laimes,
Wright.
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