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Most people think that since collective nouns refer to groups of people/things that they should always be treated as plural nouns. That is not the case. Collective nouns, such as navy, jury, and council, can be treated as singular nouns in certain circumstances. The only way for a writer to decide whether or not to treat a collective noun as a plural or singular noun is to analyze the context of the whole sentence.

If the sentence describes the activity of a group of people acting in unison, then the collective nouns should be treated as a singular noun. However, if the sentence describes a group of people who are not doing the same thing at the same time, then the collective noun should be treated as a plural case.

An example to better illustrate the first point is the sentence, “the class takes the test in Mr. Olaf’s classroom.” In this example, “class” is the collective noun that is treated as a singular noun. Since the class is taking the test all at the same time, we can consider this a singular entity. The class members are doing one activity at one time in one place together.

Now let’s look at this sentence, “the class start their art projects.” The collective noun “class” is interpreted as a plural noun here because the class members are going to do their art projects separately in different places at different times. In other words, the students in the class are working independently, not as a single group.

Sometimes it can be hard for a writer to know whether or not a collective noun is plural or singular. There are a few tricks to help writers out with this conundrum. The simplest solution is to add the word “members” behind a collective noun. This will instantly make it plural.

The indefinite articles “a” and “an” are pretty straightforward in everyday language. You put “an” before words beginning in vowels and words beginning with vowel sounds; everything else gets “a.” It’s a little more complicated with acronyms, however, since they aren’t actual words. What do you do then?

Simple: use your ears.

Whether or not the words abbreviated in the acronym are consonants or vowels, you should go with whatever the pronunciation of the acronym dictates. This can differ a lot between acronyms that should be pronounced about the same way, so use what you know to make the right call.

For example, the Food and Drug Administration’s acronym FDA begins with a soft “e” sound. The head-mounted display acronym, HMD, begins with a hard “a” sound. These are known as initialisms because they aren’t read as words, and they’ll both have “an” attached where “food” and “head” did not. The same goes for any acronym that begins with a letter making a vowel sound, whether or not it’s a vowel.

However, if the acronym is read as a word, you should go with however the pronunciation works. As another example, if you say FAQs (frequently asked questions) as “fax” instead of saying it by letter, use “a” to match the consonant sound. If you sound out each letter, use “an.” This will, of course, vary based on how you and others choose to pronounce the acronym.

Ultimately, don’t always go with what your eyes suggest; choose what sounds right.

Gerunds are words made from verbs that function as nouns in a sentence. Although many people are unfamiliar with the term “gerund,” a gerund is very easy to spot. The main reason they are so easy to spot is because all gerunds end with “-ing.” There is no exception to this rule. Simple examples of gerunds could include “swimming,” “dreaming,” and “doing.”

Infinitives, on the other hand, are formed of the word “to” plus a verb. This does not make them verbs, however. Infinitives could be nouns, just like gerunds. Unlike gerunds, infinitives can be used as adverbs or adjectives. Some simple examples of infinitives include “to look,” “to sleep,” and “to swim.”

Now that we’ve covered the basics of gerunds and infinitives, we can move on to a more difficult topic. In many sentences, writers find it difficult to decide whether or not a verb should be followed by a gerund or an infinitive. Unfortunately, the only real way to be sure is to either memorize a list of verbs that take gerunds, or to have that list by your side at all times.

A list put out by Penguin Group shows all of the verbs that always take gerunds. This list includes: “appreciate,” “avoid,” “can’t help.” “consider,” “delay,” “enjoy,” “feel like,” “imagine,” “miss,” “recommend,” “regret,” “report,” “resist,” “risk,” “stop,” “tolerate,” and “understand.” There are many more verbs, but these are a few of the most common. Again, these verbs will always be followed by a gerund.

Some verbs that can be followed by either a gerund or an infinitive include “attempt,” “begin,” “continue,” “hate,” “intend,” “love,” “prefer,” “remember,” “start,” and “try.”

There are other verbs that only take the simple form of an infinitive. A simple form just means you get rid of the “to.” Some of these verbs include “let,” “make,” “help,” and “have.”

Another group of verbs can be followed by either a gerund or a simple form. These include “see,” “notice,” “watch,” and “hear.”

For a full list of these verbs, writers can follow this link. This will show the complete list of verbs that take gerunds. Plus, writers will find a boatload of examples and many other lists of verbs that always take either infinitives or simple forms.

Rules for Using “That” to Join Two Clauses
One of the problems with grammar today is which source is reliable. Perhaps, writing sentences today depends on who read them. For example, offline, it is considered correct to use “that” to join two clauses. Online content usage of “that” to join two clauses depends entirely on which style guide is used and whether browser algorithms accept it. The use of “that” may also depend on the dictates for brevity and white space when writing for magazines or newspapers. Online content relies mainly on AP and API to determine correctness of the use of “that” to join two clauses. However, it would be prudent for students writing term papers and a college thesis to check the standard style guide preferences. It is important to note that AP is not precise about use of “that”

Examples of “That” to Join Two Clauses
I designed a car that I presented to the public.

In this example, it is imperative to use “that.” The alternative would be unclear as two separate sentences: I designed a car. I presented to the public.

“That” is often used as a relative pronoun in which case, it can be dropped without compromising articulation of thought.

Perhaps, the rule of thumb is to drop “that” if it isn’t necessary unless the style guide in use states otherwise. The best idea to follow is to keep in mind who reads what you write and adapt your writing style accordingly. Writing styles are generally formal or casual.

The statement “My wife and I’s seafood collaboration dinner is not a question. It is an incomplete statement and grammatically incorrect. The pronoun “I” cannot be a possessive noun in any sentence. The grammatically correct statement is: I and my wife’s seafood collaboration dinner.

The second part of the compound subject must begin with “I” in order to correctly state that both “I” and “wife” are part of the same subject of the statement. As to seafood collaboration dinner, depending on the future predicate and sentence object, this is also grammatically incorrect.

There is no articulation of how the seafood collaboration dinner relates to the compound subject. There is also lack of clarification as to the relationship to the possessive compound subject.

As it is written, the question is wholly unclear and disenfranchised from creating a point to the statement. All sentences must have a subject and predicate. This statement fulfills only half of that requirement.

As read with grammatical correction, “I and my wife’s seafood collaboration dinner” has no meaningful purpose or point. More is required about the seafood collaboration dinner of “I and my wife’s?”

What is the intent of the phrase? As it stands, even with grammatical correction, the statement is vacuous and inspires only the question of why it was written with such brevity.

This also cannot be written in the interrogative tense unless it is in response to prior communication. Example: “I and my wife’s seafood collaboration dinner?”

When it comes to the most common compound words, many of us learn from experience whether to write it as a single word, hyphenate it, or write it as two separate words. For example, the word Editor-in-Chief is always hyphenated. However, sometimes it is not that simple. In most cases, if you are unsure, check the dictionary. Some words, such as art museum are always written as two words, whereas merry-go-round is always hyphenated. In addition, some compound words form a single word, such as schoolhouse. With these more common compounds, simply look the word up in a reliable source.

The problem lies when there is no clear answer in the dictionary. For example, is it correct to write Spanish language newspaper or Spanish-language newspaper? In general, the rule is to hyphenate adjectives when they function as a unit. In this case, we are writing about a newspaper in Spanish, not a newspaper about languages in Spain, so hyphenating is preferable. However, some compounds are so common that they are never hyphenated as they are not ambiguous. For example, good writers normally write graduate school application, not graduate-school application. On the other hand, it is more common to hyphenate out-of-state student. When combining a word with a past participle, the general rule is to hyphenate. For example, the escape was well-planned, not well planned. Be careful, because this rule does not apply to adverbs. The correct form is fully accredited college, not fully-accredited college.

In English grammar, “a” and “an” are called indefinite articles. An indefinite article refers to a noun which is not specific. A noun is a word naming a place, thing, person or idea.

The sound of the first letter of the first word following “a” or “an” determines which to use. If the letter sounds like a consonant, use “a”. Be reminded that a vowel may sometimes sound like a consonant: u sounds like yoo. Likewise, a consonant may sometimes sound like a vowel: h sounds like aitch. Some examples are a dog, a hat or a yak. If someone said,” I saw a dog,” they could mean any dog (dog is the unspecified noun).

If the letter sounds like a vowel, use “an”. Some examples are an alligator, an ear or an hour (where the h is silent). In some instances where “h” has the sound of a consonant, “an” may be used. One example is with the word historical. It is usually more customary though to use “a”. For instance: The art exhibit was a historical triumph. These rules apply to acronyms too. An acronym is an abbreviation that sounds like a word, like NASA.

When an adjective comes before a noun, the sound of the first letter of the adjective is used: a rare sighting or an unjust action.

Examples of nouns that aren’t used with indefinite articles are sports such as basketball and football and the academic subjects chemistry and mathematics. Included in this are nationalities and languages like Spanish and Chinese. Lastly, indefinite articles show membership: Jim is an Englishman. I am a judge.

Knowing when to use the word “that” versus the word “which” is one of the most common conundrums in the English language. At first glance, these terms might seem interchangeable, but this is not always the case.

The most important rule to remember is that “that” should be used before a restrictive clause. “Which” should be used before non-restrictive clauses. To put it even more simply, you should use “that” in situations where removing the terms that follow the word would change the meaning of the sentence. If removing the words following the term would not change the entire message of the sentence, stick with “which.”

If you’re having a hard time deciding which clauses are restrictive and which ones are non-restrictive, keep in mind that restrictive clauses are not normally set off by commas. Conversely, most non-restrictive clauses will have a comma both before and after.

These rules might sound a bit confusing, but they are pretty easy to implement when you compare two real sentences. Let’s take a look at these two examples to see the difference between that and which.

1. The red package, which contained her Christmas present, was beautiful.
2. The red package that has a handwritten tag is for you.

In the first sentence, “which” is the right choice. Even if you removed the clause, “which contained her Christmas present.” The sentence still conveys the meaning that the red package was beautiful.

On the other hand, the second sentence wouldn’t carry the same meaning if the phrase “that has a handwritten tag” is removed. In this case, the reader wouldn’t know which red package was for her. Since the clause is restrictive, “that” is the right choice.

The subjunctive in English plays a much less important role that in many other languages and rules regarding its use are not widely understood. In English, a verb must be in the subjunctive form when it presents a condition that is doubtful or contrary to fact. Clauses that begin with the word “if” are most often introducing a verb that must be in the subjunctive mood. An example of this would be, “if I were rich…” You will often hear such a construction using “was” instead of “were.” “If I was rich” is incorrect and should not be used.

Another instance when the subjunctive is needed is the expression of a wish, as in “Don’t you wish you were young again?” As you can see, “were” sounds much better to the even slightly educated ear than “was.” Listen to “Don’t you wish you was young again?” The correct form, were, is more pleasing to hear and gives most people a strong clue of the needed word.

In addition to the above example, where a wish is expressed, there are two other categories that require the subjunctive. These are when something is doubtful or when it is contrary to fact. An example of these would be, “I had hoped you were honest.” This use indicates that the speaker doubts that you are honest or expresses the speaker’s knowledge or belief that you are not honest. The exact meaning would depend upon the situation or context in which it is being used.

The capitalization of a title is largely a stylistic choice; however, the major style guides do make certain recommendations.

Chicago Manual of Style:

The Chicago Manual of Style states that the first and last word of a title should be capitalized in addition to

• nouns,
• verbs,
• pronouns,
• adverbs,
• adjectives,
• a few conjunctions, and
• subordinating conjunctions.

Prepositions are capitalized if they are used in the context of an adjective or an adverb.

Associated Press Style:

According to AP style, you should capitalize the first and last word of a title in addition to all principal words and all words longer than three letters. Principal words would essentially be the same parts of speech listed above.

Sentence Style:

You can choose to write your title the same way that you would write a sentence. This means that you would capitalize the first word, proper names, and any other word that would normally be capitalized in a sentence.

A General Rule:

The key is to be consistent in how you capitalize titles throughout your document, publication, or website. You also do not want to be too informal, which is often the case with online publications. For example, you should avoid the temptation to capitalize every word or to make every word lowercase. You also should not capitalize every letter of the title. This can be difficult to read and even come across as shouting.

Dealing with Company Names:

Certain company names, such as iPhone or eBay, can pose a sticky situation when used at the beginning of a title. The styles guides advise that the first word of a title should be capitalized, but that does not agree with the company’s branding. The best course of action is to simply rewrite the title to avoid using the company name at the beginning.