I am a fan of using "we" in co-authored papers in order to avoid using passive voice. However, I tend to see passive voice, rather than active voice with "I," in single-author papers. Furthermore, I have read numerous suggestions to avoid using the first-person "I" in a research paper.  Isn't it appropriate to use "I" and active voice?
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Which personal pronoun is appropriate in single-author papers - 'I' or 'we'? Could the use of 'I' be considered egotistical? Or will the use of 'we' be considered to be grammatically incorrect?
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I often use  to keep my sentences gender neutral. Many of my friends (none of them are native speakers), however, consider this to be grammatically incorrect, and suggest me not to use it in formal English exams.  My questions are:   Is singular they widely accepted in English speaking countries such as America and Britain? Is it formal enough to be used in formal situations, such as a public speech? Is it casual enough to be used in informal situations, such as gossiping among friends?
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I wonder about the use of as a and as (only)  in writing. Can you explain when it is correct to quantify the noun when presenting oneself? I will paste some examples for clarity. Are there any rules to follow? Example 1  a) As teacher, I meet many children. b) As a teacher, I meet many children.  Example 2  a) Working as pilot, I fly airplanes. b) Working as a pilot, I fly airplanes.
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I am getting confused while using an article an. Because an is used while referring to vowels (a,e,i,o,u).  But today I read an article where for user they used a user.  My question is, why was an not used?  Could someone explain this with an example?
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I have often read people using sentences like...     Assume you are given a ball.   in place of      Assume that you are given a ball.   While both sound correct while speaking, the first sentence does not sound quite right while writing. Is it correct to use the first sentence in writing?
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I was reading Computers, Communications, and Information A User's Introduction (Seventh Edition) by Sarah E. Hutchinson and Stacey C. Sawyer.  The authors consistently used such terms as communications hardware and applications software. I thought we should use communication hardware and application software instead. Why did the authors use nouns of plural form this way?  EDIT: As far as I can remember from English grammar courses, a noun should typically be modified by a single noun preceding it. Rarely have I seen such usages as in the book.
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Between you and me Suhani is intelligent.  Neither he nor his brother can walk faster than me. Whom did you mean to hurt by your unkind remarks except Sita and me?    In these sentence book uses me (objective form of I). But I find one more sentence from book which uses I(not  me).   Your husband doesn't believe that you are older than I.   In sentence 2 after preposition than it uses me while in sentence 4 its uses I after than. why? I think there should be I(instead of me) in sentence 3 and me(instead of I) in sentence 4. But i know I am wrong. I am confused with use of me and I. So please  help me to understand this.
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Consider:  Two units are headed your way. Two units are heading your way. Don't get me started! Don't get me starting!  Is there any difference in meaning? And I don't see why passive voice is used here. I would think they have similar meaning here. Help me to clarify!
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I often hear people saying that "I am" is the shortest sentence in the English language.  I know that there are also discussions about sentences using the imperative mood such as "Go." that would be shorter, but my question is this:  Why would we (the people saying "I am" is a full sentence) not accept "I'm" as a complete sentence?  Is there some unwritten rule about contractions that says "I'm" wouldn't be correct?
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This post has two parts: (a) a question and (b) a proposal.   (a) Often, particularly while writing technical papers or user's manuals, I have come across a situation where I need to say:      A user of this software may not need to use it from his personal computer. He can use it from a phone or even from his tablet.   I have seen many authors use female pronouns (i.e. “she” and “her”), but lately this trend seems to have ebbed somewhat.   I, and (I suspect) many other authors, do not want to use passive voice to avoid this.   Is there a gender-neutral way to describe the same situation?   (b) If there is none, I would like to propose using “ze” (for “he” or “she”) and “zir” (for “his” or “her”, rhyming with “fir”) as gender-neutral pronouns. I want to know how you feel about these words.
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When the phrase is used as an object, why so many native speakers are saying "you and I" instead of "you and me"? I'm not a native speaker but I thought "you and me" is correct. Not sure if this falls into the same category, but "Just between you and me" sounds more natural than "Just between you and I".
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My non-native English speaking friend just asked me: "Data is..." or "Data are..."?  I said both but that's because I've been desensitized from reading/writing both (especially from writing code and adding quick comments).  My question: Is it acceptable to utilize either for a university paper? Or is one safer than the other (when confronted with stickler professors)?    Related questions:
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Repeating the indefinite article. Is it a matter of style? If so, which quote is more natural [or maybe sounds better]?     My name is Amy Purdy, I am a survivor, snowboarder, founder of   Adaptive Action Sports, globetrotter and daydreamer.   vs.     My name is Amy Purdy, I am a survivor, a snowboarder, a founder of   Adaptive Action Sports, a globetrotter and a daydreamer.   Source: Amy Purdy Note: the first comma is from the source. It should be replaced by a period.
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I was told the correct usage is for example: &quot;My wife and me&quot; but I hear often &quot;I and my wife&quot; or &quot;my wife and I&quot;. Google gives 34M results for &quot;My wife and I&quot; and 909K results for &quot;My wife and me&quot; Which is the correct form and why? It occurred to me that maybe it could depend on the rest of the phrase? (subject or object)  &quot;My wife and I are eating an apple&quot; &quot;You can see my wife and me in this picture&quot;
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If my understanding is correct, the  possessive personal pronouns (which are mine, thine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, and theirs) are used in place of nouns, whereas the possessive determiners (which are my, thy, your, his, her, its, our, and their) are used as adjectives.  If this is the case, then why is example 1 below correct, as opposed to example 2?   Whose book is this? It is mine.   Whose book is this? It is *my.
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Sometimes I go through articles and find the expression utilize, I've always been wondering if there are special cases in which it should be used instead of used.  Also because  clearly shows that used is used (sorry for that ;D) much more.  Thanks for your help and happy new year!
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I was reading a book and encountered this sentence (emphasis added by me):        I know it without his telling me.      Despite being grammatically correct, it seemed a little strange to me. What came to my mind was this sentence instead:        I know it without him telling me.      Another case was this:        I can’t control the fact of temptation, but there’s no chance of my giving in to it.      QUESTION: Is using "me" here in #3 (or "him" as done in the previous one) correct? If so, what's the difference between the two?