Ryan,

These are basic English grammar questions you're asking. I'll bet there's a good grammar site online you can check out, but I'll give you some basic answers to your questions:

Ryan: It comes down to this question: What, precisely, does "first person"
mean?

Response: When making verbs agree with their subjects, you consider which "person" the subject of the sentence is. A list that is memorized in school is: "I, you, [he, she, it], we, you, they." Some of those pronouns are singular and others are plural. This is how you can break them down into a visual list:

Singular:

First Person -- I
Second Person -- you
Third Person -- it

Plural:
First person -- we
Second Person -- you
Third Person -- they

Now back to first person. First person singular refers to yourself. The pronoun that takes the place of yourself is "I." That first person singular requires a specific kind of verb agreement. Take the verb "to be." You must use the verb "am" with the pronoun "I." You can't use "is" or "are," for instance, and maintain a sentence that is grammatically correct with regards to standard English. But you can (and some do) say "I is" if you want to; you're just not using standard English.

Now what is the plural of "I"? What would the first person plural be? You just think of yourself in a group of people, with yourself in the middle of it. How would you refer to what your group wants, for instance? You wouldn't refer to them as "they" because you're part of that group. You would say, "We want" whatever it is you want.

Second person singular is kind of the opposite of "I." One person opposite you would be "you." And the plural form of you is "you" again.

Third person singular (he, she, it) refers to either a singular person or thing that you are not directly addressing (as you were in the case of "you"). The third person plural would be "they."

The important thing about understanding first, second, and third person (whether singular or plural) is that it helps cause your subjects to agree with your verbs, sometimes a hard task in complex sentences.


You asked, "What does first person singular mean?" It simply means you as you refer to yourself. And your refer to yourself, when you are the subject of a sentence, as "I." Period. Not as Ryan. Just plain ol' "I." That's what it means.

Hope this helps.

Ryan: Is it any time the author refers to the author, or only when doing so by
use of the pronoun "I"?

Response: Ryan, anytime anyone refers to himself, whether in writing or speaking, first person singular form functioning as the subject of a verb would be "I."

Ryan: If the latter, well, that would explain why we've never heard anything
like "Ryan am going to the store", as well as making the term "first
person" disappointingly simplistic.

Response: It would be very rare for me to write a sentence in which I refered to myself as "Wordwind" here. I would refer to myself consistently, if the subject of my own sentence, as "I." It may be simplistic, but it works. In very formal appeal, however, I, Wordwind, could add my name "Wordwind" as I just did. But it's a bit weighty and would be used only for very serious or very humorous situations.