User:Chuck Entz/English user's guide

=Introduction= This is a mockup of what a Wiktionary user's guide might look like. I've created it to explore the possible layout and types of information. I'm sure I'll miss some important details, but it's a start. I expect it to be very incomplete and inaccurate at first, but I hope to eventually refine it to reflect what I originally had in mind. =Guide=

Inflection
Old English was a highly inflected language much like other Germanic languages. The trend since then has been toward merger and loss of grammatical categories, with only pronouns and a few irregular verbs retaining some morphological distinctions. There are also survivals in a few dialects. Early Modern English had separate pronouns and present-tense verb endings for first, second and third person singular and plural, with a distinction in the second person between formal and informal. All distinctions of number and formality in the second person have since been lost Grammatical gender has been lost, with only third-person-singular pronouns retaining masculine and feminine forms. These, however, agree with the natural gender of the referent- nouns have no grammatical gender. Only the pronouns have distinct forms for different cases. Possession is shown by a clitic, -'s, that interacts with sibilant and shibilant final consonants, and by the preposition of The subjunctive is only shown morphologically in the verb "to be", and is rapidly fading in most modern use.
 * Number and person
 * Gender
 * Case
 * Voice and mood