Los Angeles Times

A Word, Please: A simple rule for nouns that are singular and plural at the same time

The couple is going to purchase the house? Or the couple are going to purchase the house? Even after all my years of editing, I can still get tripped up trying to make verbs agree with collective ...
Los Angeles Times

A Word, Please: The trouble with singular nouns’ punctuation

Apostrophes are equal opportunity humiliators. As I wrote recently, apostrophes incriminate less-word-savvy types by popping up in plurals like “We play bridge with the Smith’s” and “He had two ...
The Punch Newspapers

Summons and other singular nouns that end with -s

We start the lesson with this question: The court has served the Central Bank Governor with a … (a) summons (b) summon (c) summoning (d) summonses I hope you understand the message the statement is ...
Slate

The Data Clearly Show That the Media Are Jerks for Singularizing Latinate Words

What do erotica, stamina, and candelabra have in common? Oh, stop it. The answer is that they are all singular nouns that started off plural. In Latin, nouns that end in –um when alone often end in –a ...
BBC

Grammar Reference

However, there are many types of noun and noun phrase in English, and it can be difficult to know if a particular noun takes a singular verb (such as DOES / HAS / AM / IS ) or a plural verb (DO / HAVE ...