Search results for “plural”

The concept of case in English involves the relationship of a noun, a pronoun, or an adjective (also referred to as a determiner) with other parts of a sentence. The possessive case often conveys possession or ownership, such as Joseph's book or my opinion. It is the only case in which nouns alter their form …

Percentages are common in our daily communication. They express groups of numbers in ways that let us quickly interpret them and relate them to one another. At the same time, we might wonder how we should present these figures in our writing. Do we use 10 per cent, 10 percent, or 10%? Let's review some …

One interesting thing about grammar is that we may often use it correctly without even realizing how or why. In other words, we might know the best way to apply a word or a phrase even if we can't explain it. As natural to us as the air that we breathe, simple subjects appear in …

Part of being a precise and eloquent communicator is conveying the right point of view. Person is used in grammar to distinguish who is speaking, who is being addressed, and who is not speaking or being addressed. Grammatical person includes first person, second person, and third person. In this post we will help you understand …

English verbs are simple to work with when they are regular—i.e., they follow an obvious pattern for conjugating their past tense and past participle. Verb Infinitive Present Tense Past Tense Past Participle to breathe breathe, breathes breathed breathed to dine dine, dines dined dined to jump jump, jumps jumped jumped The pattern is basic and …

As the second Sunday of May approaches, we are reminded again of the importance of motherhood. The holiday dedicated to mothers was created by Anna Jarvis in 1908 and later made an official U.S. holiday in 1914. Its origin can be traced to the ancient Greeks and Romans, but the foundation of the modern holiday …

Those who enjoy and study grammar often do so because they are inspired by the clear and eloquent expression of thoughts. They understand that when we open our mouths, put pen to paper, or begin to type, our minds are on parade. Precision in writing and speech involves the steady acquisition of grammatical details, or …

Along the way we've enjoyed exploring some of the colorful qualities of American English and its immediate relatives in the U.K. and Commonwealth countries, such as in our discussions of spelling, vocabulary, grammar, and punctuation. In this review, we'll consider some different ways American and British English use verbs. American vs. British English Verbs: Spelling …

Where and were are words that look and sound similar. That's probably why they could be easy to confuse sometimes. If you want to know the difference—and, more important, consistently use the right word in context—this brief discussion will provide what you're looking for. Let's start with a definition of each word, and then we'll …

English (and language in general) uses tense to indicate the timing of a verb's action in the present, the past, or the future. The simple past tense in English communicates that an action occurred at an earlier time. The action has been completed, and it is not continuing in the present or into the future. …