Third person

[tufguy]

Hi guys,

Yesterday I was talking to an insurance rep regarding a claim. She said "This claim is under review, and nobody call on this claim by the next two weeks". So she asked not to call on this claim for next two weeks. Am I correct?. If she said so, why didn't she said "Nobody calls on this claim". Is it because she didn't want anybody to call on it in near future? If yes then if we ask a third person not to do anything or to do anything we do not use "s" with verbs and we don't use "does". For example "Nobody do it until I come back".

 

[MikeNewYork]

Was this insurance rep a native English speaker?

 

[tufguy]

Yes, an american. So, you mean to say, we should use "Nobody does it in the future, its an order"?

 

[SoothingDave]

"nobody call on this claim by the next two weeks" doesn't make any sense. I find it hard to believe it came from a native speaker.

Are you sure it wasn't "nobody call on this claim for the next two weeks"?

 

[tufguy]

Yes, okay let it be. I might have misheard her or she might have made a mistake we are humans not gods. Mistakes do happen. So we need to say "Nobody does it in future". But I have also seen one thing that sometimes we do not use 's' for third person. When do we have to do this. Please tell.

 

[SoothingDave]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperative_mood

It's an imperative -- a command.

Contrast:

"Nobody calls anymore, they use text or email."

"Nobody call me, I'm watching the big game." <--- this is a command

 

[Matthew Wai]

'I request that nobody call me for a few hours.' <--- it is the present subjunctive.
Is it correct?
Not a teacher.

 

[SoothingDave]

'I request that nobody call me for a few hours.' <--- it is the present subjunctive.
Is it correct?
Not a teacher.

Yes, it is correct. I think this is one of those things you will find more in AmE than BrE.

 

[Tdol]

It is. :up:

 

[tufguy]

So that rep was right. She was commanding us. And we have to say "Nobody do it in future" if we are commanding?