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VERBS, INFLECTIONS OF:-- Inflection in -s preceding a plural subject

Inflection in -s preceding a plural subject. Passages in which the quasi-singular verb precedes the plural subject stand on a somewhat different footing. When the subject is as yet future and, as it were, unsettled, the third person singular might be regarded as the normal inflection. Such passages are very common, particularly in the case of "There is," as--

“There is no more such masters.

“There was at the beginning certaine light suspitions and accusations
put up against him.” N. P. 173.

“Of enjoin'd penitents there's four or five.

“The spirit upon whose weal depends and rests
The lives of many.

“Then what intends these forces thou dost bring?

“There is no woman's sides can, &c.

“Is there not charms?

“Is all things well?

“Is there not wars? Is there not employment?

So 1 Hen. VI. iii. 2. 123; R. and J. i. 1. 48; 2 Hen. IV. iii. 2. 199; 1 Hen. VI. iii. 2. 9.

“Here comes the townsmen.

“Here comes the gardeners (Globe, come).

“There comes no swaggerers here.

This, it is true, comes from Mrs. Quickly, but the following are from Posthumus and Valentine:

“How comes these staggers on me?

“Far behind his worth
Comes all the praises that I now bestow.

And in the Lover's Complaint, where the rhyme makes alteration impossible:

“And to their audit comes
Their distract parcels in combined sums.

“What cares these roarers for the name of king?

“There grows all herbs fit to cool looser flames.” B. and F. F. Sh. i. 1.

“There was the first gentlemanlike tears that ever we shed.

“Has his daughters brought him to this pass? (Globe, have.)

“What means your graces? (Globe, mean.)” Ib. iii. 7. 30.

“But most miserable
Is the desires that's (247) glorious (Globe, desire).

("Few" and "more" might, perhaps, be considered nouns in

“Here's a few flowers.

“There is no more such masters.” Ib. iv. 2. 371. A sum of money also can be considered as a singular noun:

“For thy three thousand ducats here is six.

“There lies
Two kinsmen (who) digged their graves with weeping eyes.

“Sir, there lies such secrets in this fardell and box.

“At this hour
Lies at my mercy all mine enemies (Globe, lie).

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