Steg:
> >So then what dialect of English *adds* final |-s|s where
Standard
> >American says they don't belong?
Doug Dee:
> I seem to recall learning that in Scotland & Northern England,
final -s
> traditionally appears on 3rd person plural present tense
verbs, in
> accordance with a rule I can't remember but which someone here
is
> sure to explain.
In Scots, plural noun subjects take a singular verb, e.g. "the
bairns is" (English "the children are"). Plural pronoun subjects
take a plural verb, e.g. "they are" (not *"they is").
Thomas