student asking question

Why is the first one is "weigh" without "s", but the second is "weighs" with "s"?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

This is a good question. We can break it two into two phrases: "she can't weigh less than me" and "or look like she weighs less than me." Remember that when "can't" and "cannot" appear before a verb, the verb that follows appears in its original form. Thus, "weigh" would be used here. Ex: She can't swim. Ex: He can't run. The second "weigh" in this sentence appears alongside "look like," which does not need follow the same grammatical rule as "can't". Thus, we can use the verb tense that normally corresponds to "he" or "she": "weighs". Ex: She weighs 100 pounds. Ex: He weighs less than 200 pounds.

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