The band of musicians was playing.- here band is a collective noun. The musical band is popular among teenagers.- Can I say band is a collective noun in this context?
1135
I'd say Microsoft have a way of bending the rules and I know that McLaren have won the championship. While this sounds strange, I believe it is correct English (sorry, I'm not native).   But when it's a small company, would you still use it this way? Is a company always plural, or are small companies singular? I.e., would you say Bakery Johnson makes fine bread or Bakery Johnson make fine bread? Is it My book seller, Woody's, have moved or is it has moved?
78315
I've seen a lot of times the pronoun them used like an article. For example, in the title of the Delta Rhythm Boys Them bones, or in the first sentence of "Money for nothing":     Now look at them yo-yo's, that's the way you do it.   I know that it's not "proper English" (i.e., not something you'll use in a serious writing), but I'd like to know when it's commonly used, and why. Is there any difference between using it and using the?
45737
Which one is correct?         I go to school by foot.   I go to school on foot.       Are there instances when the expression by foot is preferred?    My last question is the following:   Why is the singular noun, foot, used?     If a person goes to school by bus/train/car they are using only one means of transport, they are travelling in one car not two. But people use both feet for walking, so why would the following expressions be ungrammatical?         I go to school by feet     I go to school on feet      I read the answers on this question  but they did not convince me.
46279
I am not sure if the singular or plural forms should be used in the following. Some people go for the plural, but it doesn't seem to have a plural antecedent.     Each month, the school holds a party. This event is / These events are/ successful because it attracts / they attract over two hundred students.   I'd appreciate your help.
6839
I know that words like login and payoff are properly nouns but I increasingly notice many (not at all uneducated) people use them as verbs:     Will you payoff your credit card this month?   and     Please check this when you login.   To me (a non-native English user), that seems incorrect because separating the core noun from a preposition is what I was taught: Please check this when you log in. (My emphasis)  Is this use proper or not?
26492
I am writing an ad and would like to write: "Our team of economists are at your service and available by phone or email.  They will be happy to respond...".  I know that grammatically speaking, 'team' is the subject of the sentence and, being singular, would dictate that 'it' is "at your service".  BUT, it just feels better reading this and it evokes a picture of a bunch of economists doing what they do rather than a single unit".  Is what I'm doing OK?  Should I be arrested by the grammar police?
68948
I would like to ask how people who are familiar with English interpret these sentences regarding the nouns that can be both count and noncount nouns.  (1) I have to make more cake/cakes to offer a wide variety of bakery products for my own business.  (2) France is famously known for having more cheese/cheeses than there are days in the year.  My foreign teachers went for plural noun in (1), but they chose the bare form for (2). I have them chose only one form for each item. For me (I'm Thai), I just want some explanations because both items represent "a variety of sth", so why these two are treated differently.
74936
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960.     The Beatles were? Aren't/isn't The Beatles a proper noun and it refers to one group? I don't understand why WikiPedia and other sources use The Beatles were instead of The Beatles was. Is it because of the s? Somebody please explain me about this, it goes against all the rules I've learnt and it is not even in my grammar books.
20026
I wonder which of the two is correct:        I have a red and a blue car.   I have a red and a blue cars.      or        Everyone has a left and a right arms.   Everyone has a left and a right arm.      My (non-native) inclination would be for option 1, as it sounds better.  On the other hand, in the following examples, the plural sounds better to me.    Everyone has left and right arms. I have old and new cars. (when I only have only one old car and one new car) The left and the right arms are...   But are they correct?
75206
I took this photo by the lake last Saturday, Grandma. It looks lovely.   Do you know any of these people?      Yes, I do. The man who’s reading the newspaper is William.      He’s wearing a nice hat.      He is, isn’t he? Grandpa knows him, I think!   Why don't they say "he was wearing a nice hat" because that was happening in the past?  Can we use the present tense to describe people in a video?  For example, "Look at you in this video! You are smiling and swimming in a bathtub".
67890
I am a Japanese teacher of English who is making a teaching material for my students. I would like to know whether the following usage would be totally accepted in school grammar. To put my question in other words, would a very grammar-sensitive person allow the following usage (in bold font)?  A: What is your favorite movie? B: It is Titanic created in 1997 by James Cameron.  So, the point here is whether you can grammatically modify a proper noun with a participle. I know it's totally okay to write something like "a movie created in 1997 by James Cameron," where participle modifies a common noun, but I'm not sure if the same is allowed for proper nouns.  Thank you, Tom
79207
In sentences such as the following, how is most best understood?       1) Most children do not like cauliflower.        2) Most of the balls in the bucket are red.   I suppose there are three or more possible interpretations for most in these sentences.     A) a plurality (at least one more than any other alternative)        B) a majority (more than half, even if barely more)        C) a comfortable majority (well more than half)   For sentence 1, interpretations A and B would be equivalent since there are only two alternatives.
9982
"Separate students according to their academic performance(s)."   (For example, their test results.) Should I use singular or plural in this phrase?  I did some research, but the example  is quite different than mine.
57767
I’m writing a dissertation on network security. I’m unsure which of the following to use:   ...89.9%, which is 57 million users.  ...89.9%, which are 57 million users.   Technically it should be are because it refers to a plural amount of people, but it doesn’t sound right to me considering that 57 million is in a sense one group.
117257
We look at the kids which/that/who skillfully use tablets with the help of their small fingers and we understand that to surprise the younger generation will be more difficult each year.   Is the relative pronoun which acceptable here, or does it look totally out of place, because it befits a "non-restrictive relative clause" more?   It seems to me that the pronoun that looks best in the bolded position, with who an acceptable second choice. But it's hard to pin down why.
53363
Generally, one doesn't use the indefinite article with a noun because it's plural, but sometimes you get nouns where, for some reason, the indefinite article isn't used even though the noun is singular.  I would never say 'a software', though it seems to be a singular noun, and I've heard it said (though it sounds wrong).  Instead, we say 'some software' or 'a piece of software' (the latter implying that software is singular), so why does 'a software' sound wrong?  EDIT: I really meant to ask why we don't consider software singular.  Maybe I should have asked, 'why is software a mass noun?'
12380
Is it correct to say user accounts or users account when referring to the accounts any user has on a site like this one?  In general, in the case of a noun that is used as adjective for the noun that follows, is it better to use &lt;plural-noun&gt; &lt;singular-noun&gt; or &lt;singular-noun&gt; &lt;plural-noun&gt;?