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I just saw this thread and got completely confused. What is the "s" at the end of some words and where does it go when talking about multiples?

Since the subject remains Sunday, the verb remains works (3rd-person singular present).

How can a day of the week be third person singular?


Please note, I was taught English by reading good books (this was how UK schools worked in the 70s and 80s), so despite being able to talk/write good English (when I remember) my understanding of why is 0.

I follow most of the answers but this was simply a WTF moment.

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    A day is a day, a single thing, so the verb is singular, and in the "third person" (which goes with he, she, and "it" -- any singular entity that is not "you" or "I"). Don't get confused by the term "person". Replace it with entity if you like.
    – TimR
    Commented Jul 24, 2018 at 12:04
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    The alternative is to imagine everything in the world as a "person", whether it be a piece of bubble gum or a stick you toss on the fire. That might be more fun than swapping in entity for person.
    – TimR
    Commented Jul 24, 2018 at 12:10
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    @Tᴚoɯɐuo: Animism at it's best! Commented Jul 24, 2018 at 13:42
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    Please look up the word "person", for its meaning as "grammatical person".
    – James K
    Commented Jul 24, 2018 at 16:58
  • Your question isn't clear. The linked answer used "any" while you used "all". "any Sunday" would refer to an individual Sunday (singular) while "all (of the) Sundays" refers to all four (or five) of them (plural).
    – user3169
    Commented Jul 24, 2018 at 18:46

2 Answers 2

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the verb remains works (3rd-person singular present)

The verb is "works", not Sunday. Sunday is not 3rd-person singular present - "works" is.

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This comment answered my question

A day is a day, a single thing, so the verb is singular, and in the "third person" (which goes with he, she, and "it" -- any singular entity that is not "you" or "I"). Don't get confused by the term "person". Replace it with entity if you like. – Tᴚoɯɐuo

which enabled me to make the connection that objects are classified as third person and obv singular or plural makes sense.

All of my sundays are busy so none works

So: Sundays are a plural object so you need the third person plural form of the verb, which is awkward as an example, as it is the same as the singular version.

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