Number agreement

In non-standard varieties of English, patterns of number 'agreement' between the subject and the main verb in the clause sometimes differ from those prescribed in Standard English. For example, in SE agreement between a singular third-person subject (she, the doctor, a car) and a present-tense verb phrase is signaled by adding -s or to the base form of the verb: I /we/you/they run; he/she/it runs. Below I outline some contrasts of number agreement in lexical verbs and BE between NEE and SE.

Lexical verbs (present tense indicative)

In RTG we sometimes see NS patterns of number agreement, with -s forms of lexical verbs combining with singular and plural first- and second-person subject pronouns and third-person plural subject pronouns.

First person

(1)   I drinks pints of water (2020)

(2)   I says come in, tak a seat (2014)

(3)   We says do we sound like we come from Huddersfield (2011)

(4)   We thinks next time we'll book it for 15 minutes later (2014)

Second person

(5)   You seems to think it was never intended (2020)

(6)   everything you says is always laughable and shite (2010)

Third person

(7)   neeone was complaining and they says ah well then, do as you please (2011)

(8)   They knows the rules (2020)

The verb BE (indicative)

First-person present tense

Sometimes, contracted is is attached to the first-person singular pronoun as a clitic. The pattern is noted in Northumberland Words: ‘the use of aa’s, for I am, is general’ (Heslop 1892: xx).

(9)   Ah's not scared of it (2013)

(10)  i think I's getting awld (2012)

(11)  Ah's gannin' to the Pembleton Arms (2016)

First-person past tense

'I were' typically occurs in RTG metalinguistically, nostalgically evoking a general northern past.

(12)  "When I were a lad all this was fields" (2019)

(13)  Aye when I were a lad you could get an original Van Goff for a glass of absinthe (2020)

(14)  When I were a bairn we'd hoy a shirt down the mine shaft and a new striker would pop out (2018)

'We was' is a more natural construction in RTG.

(15)  Didn't realise we was on the same plane (2019)

(16)  We was working out if we could carry enough fuel (2013)

Second-person past tense

(17)  they thought you was a raving alcoholic (2011)

(18)  You was mouthing off again (2020)

(20)  You was going to get 10m for this player and 15m for that player (2020) 

Third-person past tense

(21)  She did lamp her boyfriend nearly to death so they was hardly going to be kind about it (2020)

(22)  They was in the Carpenters Arms before the game (2016)

References

Heslop, Richard Oliver. 1892. Northumberland Words: A Glossary of Words Used in the County of Northumberland and on the Tyneside, Vol. I. London: English Dialect Society.