Third person singular present tense of 'contend'—means to struggle, compete, or claim that something is true.
From Latin contendere, maintaining its root meaning while the -s suffix marks the third person singular present tense in English.
When you 'contend' in one sentence but use 'contends' in the next, you're just changing the subject (from 'I' to 'he/she/it')—this simple grammar rule applies to thousands of English verbs.
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