Search results for “plural”

Premise and premises are similarly spelled and, in the midst of writing or speech, can be interchanged in ways that let them weave in and out of our writing and speech with the glide of a professional skier. Can you separate one from the other? If not, you'll gain insight here as we distinguish premise …

Many of us have heard of prefixes and suffixes along the way in learning English grammar. Prefixes and suffixes both belong to a larger category, the affix. An affix is any bound morpheme attached to a root word to form a new word or word form with a new meaning. Because they are morphemes, affixes …

There are too many orange M&Ms in this bowl. There is a lot of congestion on I-88 into the city. There's a piece of confetti in your hair. If you're an American communicating in American English, such statements are as common as corn in the Midwest. There is, there are, and the contracted there's are …

Michael plays basketball. Jeremiah doesn't trust pirate radio stations. Hailey dances in a ballet company. You likely recognize these statements as simple, declarative sentences that include basic components of grammar—namely a singular subject and a verb that agrees. When the subject position has two or more nouns or pronouns joined by a coordinating conjunction, we …

Subjects and verbs are the principal components of language. Before we can provide descriptive or informative details in a sentence, we must know the actor and the action. Subjects and verbs are so fundamental to communication in English that they can form complete thoughts alone. Examples Jon runs. You walk. Jennifer jogs. English subjects and …

When we refer to case in English grammar, we indicate the form that a noun or pronoun takes according to its function in a sentence. The three cases in English are subjective, objective, and possessive. This review will center on the objective case. What Is the Objective Case? The objective case is the case we …

Case in English concerns the function that a word performs in relation to other words in a sentence. In older English, grammar referred to the nominative case (subject), the accusative case (direct object), the dative case (indirect object), and the genitive case (possessive form). (Current English refers more often to three cases: subjective, objective, and …

Imagine you're taking a walk through the forest. From the corner of your eye, you spot a quick movement followed by a mischievous giggle. Moments later you see through the brush a small, childlike creature sitting and smiling. You have discovered an elf! Just as you are thinking how you will explain this sighting to …

Many modern-day philosophers (along with thousands of social media influencers) will tell you to enjoy each day because you only live once. But what would happen, grammatically speaking, if you could have more than one life? How would you spell the plural of life correctly? In other words, is it correct to write lifes or …

Mood in English grammar is the verb form that tells us the way we should regard or understand the context of an action. For example, is the action part of a statement or question, or does it involve a command or a preference? English uses the indicative, imperative, and subjunctive moods to establish these contexts. …