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For instance, when you’re playing darts, you would use the plural verb in “Three darts Following this rule helps the reader connect the singular grammatical subject performing a single action in concert as one entity with the main verb, especially when phrases of different number come between them.Look for count nouns, as well as special-case nouns that look plural but are actually singular, such as games and areas of study, like those identified above. I have better things to do than write code for making something prettier than The Grammarphobia Blog: Parenthetical plural(s) Grammarphobia.com In such a sentence, it’s simpler and more elegant to use the generic singular throughout. This question and its answer apply to any written language in which you want to abbreviate a noun phrase containing both the singular and the plural form. But everything else I have tried looks ridiculous.
[ https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/90226/what-is-the-optional-plural-form-of-a-word-that-ends-in-y ]
It can be found at the following location(s).
(2) (2009, August 7). If the clauses on either side can stand on their own as sentences, fix the comma splice easily by replacing the first comma with a semicolon. Altogether, you have four options in correcting a comma splice—two that replace the comma with other punctuation and two that leave it as-is but add a conjunction:If the writer wanted something a little lighter than a period to separate the two clauses, then a semicolon fits the bill.Note that if you see three or more independent clauses with commas between them and an and or or before the last one, then it’s a perfectly correct (albeit probably too long) compound sentence that combines whole clauses rather than just nouns or verbs. If the reader then acts on an interpretation different from the meaning you intended, major consequences can ensue, including expensive damage control. Wells, J. M., & Brizee, A. In the specific case of having a category for a thingie, you would useIn the more general case, you need an English noun inflector.To see this is so, ask yourself how you would pronounce How you abbreviate that noun phrase is up to you (and your editor or style guide, if you have one).And notice that this isn’t even a question about English. First of all I wouldn’t say verbs become singular or plural but that they accommodate singular or plural subjects.
House B. Chimney C. Bear D. Foot See answers (2) Ask for details ; Follow Report What do you need to know?
How often do such errors appear? (2)
Not to mention, rules differ between languages, for example in Polish, the plural suffix changes between counts ending with 1234 and 056789 ( Ensure that the main verb following them is singular rather than plural.In the first incorrect sentence above, the collective noun “pack” is grammatically singular and must therefore take the singular verb “is,” not the plural verb “are”), despite it being comprised of a plurality of things (“lies”) identified in the prepositional phrase following it. Gendered pronouns & singular “they.” Berry, C., & Stolley, K. (2013, January 7). When you botch those connections with grammar errors, however, you risk confusing the reader. @tchrist - I appreciate the content from stackoverflow and you're 100% correct as far as that goes.
These are technically fragments but can be easily fixed either by joining them with the previous sentence to make a compound. Pointing out that "category(s)" is an abbreviation for "category or categories" is the key.
Dangling modifiers and how to correct them.
The dangling modifier and The misplaced modifier.
If you don’t, reviewing For exercises in spotting and fixing comma splices, run-ons, and fragments, see the digital activities at the bottom of the Guide to Grammar and Writing pages linked above (Darling, Let’s focus on some of the most common grammar errors in college and professional writing:Perhaps the most common grammatical error is subject-verb disagreement, which is when you pair a singular subject noun with a plural verb (usually ending without an s) instead of a singular one (usually ending with an s), or vice versa. Of course, we speak often in fragments rather than full sentences, so if we’re writing informally, such fragments are perfectly acceptable. [2012-11-05 14:41:56]
Correct them following the suggestions given above.Benner, M. L. (2000). You can avoid being a liability and embarrassing yourself by following some simple rules for how to structure your sentences grammatically. I guess “optional plural” is the correct term. tchrist Day 12 Occupy Wall Street September 28 2011 Shankbone 33.
Even in some formal documents, such as résumés, fragments are expected in certain locations such as the Objective statement (an infinitive phrase) and profile paragraph (noun phrases) in the Qualifications Summary (see If we’re writing formally, however, these fragmentary phrases are variations on the error of leaving sentences incomplete. Localization is hard; no trivial solution will work universally. Google Mozilla's guidance contains 16 different sets of pluralization rules.
Comma splices. Look out especially for verbs that are wrongly plural in form because the nouns immediately preceding them are plural despite the fact that they are only part of phrases modifying the main subject noun.In the first incorrect example sentence above, the proximity of the plural nouns “experts” and “competitions” to the main verb (form of When the subject noun of the sentence is the indefinite pronoun Following this rule helps the reader see that the “one” or “body” suffix in each of these indefinite pronouns is singular, even if the word applies to many people, and therefore takes a singular verb form.Collective nouns such as “group” are grammatically singular and thus take a singular verb despite meaning several people or things.