Consider the phrase:     You have come one (if not many) times to my house ...   I am not sure if the noun "times" should be plural or not. It sounds better with plural, but  states that parenthesis are used for things which can be safely removing without affecting the meaning of the sentence. In that sense, if you get rid of the info in parenthesis the singular should be used.   Is there a canonical answer here?  has just one answer, which to be honest is not very helpful (and has just one vote). Also, my question has the extra issue of having a parenthesis, which surely makes it distinctive from the one linked above.
57004
If a set of parentheses lies between a subject and its verb, and the parentheses contain an substitutive subject whose singularity/plurality disagrees with the original subject, whose singularity/plurality should be chosen for the verb?  In other words, in the following example, should "questions" (and its verb "are") be singular, or should they remain plural as shown?     Many (if not every) questions on this StackExchange are answered.   My intuition tells me that the two words in question should remain in plural forms, since the text in parentheses only interrupts the sentence (and the sentence would be grammatically incorrect if everything in parentheses were removed and the words were in singular form).  On the other hand, when read aloud (assuming one reads the text in parentheses), this has an uncomfortable sound to it, and I've seen others write in what would be the above example's singular-form case, so I'm curious to find out which is correct.  And, thinking about it, I suppose the same question would apply when commas are used in place of parentheses.
107023
I listen to a podcast that I like, but every episodes ends with     Our listeners are what make [podcast name] possible.   which makes me cringe a little each time I hear it. Is it just me, or is the sentence wrong? And if so, what is the correct form - should both verbs be singular? And is there a difference between UK and US usage? (The podcast is based in the USA).  I found a , but it does not apply exactly (and the  only discusses cases where the sentence stars with a time interval).  Thank you.
94963
Here are three ways to say the same thing. I wonder if there are particular rules regarding to the position of adverb phrases:     Then play those passages over and over again in your memory   Or,     Then play those passages in your memory over and over again   Or,     Then play over and over again those passages in your memory   I think the last is the worst choice but the first twos seem ok. The first is better because "over and over again" is closer to "play" so it is emphasized. Agreed?
46001
I feel uncomfortable saying sentences like the following:    "I've a car" instead of "I have a car" "They've a great time" instead of "They have a great time" "He's a pen" instead of "He has a pen" etc   I ask this because I read this sort of thing in a book.  Are they correct? And what is the rule? Can you use such forms in a formal setting?
83283
We had an argument in our collage if it's possible to have such structure:     "How many -singular noun- is there?"   For example:      How many chair is there?   The claim of the supporters: This structure should be used in case that t is not known whether there is one one or more chairs there. While just in case that it is known certainty that there are more than one chair, it should be "how many chairs are there".    The claim of the opponents: This structure cannot be since using the phrase "how many" always should be with a plural noun.  Both sides are not native English speakers, then I would like to know what is the truth.
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Examples:   Anyone Anything Anytime Anywhere Everyone Everything  Every time Everywhere No one Nothing No time Nowhere Someone Something Sometime Somewhere   Why is there a discrepancy? Is there any rule for determining when to use a single word vs. two words?
1211
Take the examples:   "One in ten children are dyslexic."  "One in ten children is dyslexic." "One in ten children has dyslexia." "One in ten children have dyslexia."   The "one" is singular so 2 and 3 should be correct. But the "one in ten" is a fraction" so 1 and 4 should be correct. And yet I think I usually say 1 and 3. Which is/are correct?!
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?'
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I heard that the plurals of letters, numbers and words could be punctuated - with single quote marks on both sides - in this manner (especially in Britain):  'X's 'd's '5's 'thank-you's 'maybe's 'his's 'as's  I am sufficiently aware that we could italicize the letter, number or word and follow it with an unitalicized apostrophe 's'. We could also use just one apostrophe: x's, thank-you's, maybe's. This makes 'thank-you's and 'maybe's look possessive, not plural. In the two examples I just used in the previous sentence ('thank-you's and 'maybe's), the insertion of a single quote mark before and after each word (followed by an 's') definitively defines the plural of the word as a word. The same logic is applied to individual letters and numbers ('9's, 't's).  Bottom line, is my usage (albeit probably somewhat antiquated) correct?
31076
I would tend to say     Sara (and all of us) have a lot to think about now.   ...but it occurs to me that if I remove the parenthetical it's clearly incorrect. Is it proper to say     Sara (and all of us) has a lot to think about now.   ...that sounds really strange to my ear.  Also, does it change the rules in any way if I use an em dash, e.g.     Sara–and all of us–have a lot to think about now.
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I was told that if an action is completed once in the past, the simple past is used. Ex:  I saw that movie.  If the action is completed more than once, the present perfect tense must be used. Ex:  I have seen that movie twelve times.    So, "I have seen that movie twelve times on Tuesday." is correct and "I saw that movie twelve times on Tuesday." is incorrect?
106428
I haven't ever read "Here is the potatoes." but I have read/heard sentences like "Here's the potatoes." and "Here are the potatoes."  Look at the following sentences:        Here's the details.   Here’s all the ways you can look at this problem.   Here’s some things you should know.      I found the following, but it's difficult to find more than plain opinions.     Actually, though, there’s no prohibition against using “here’s” before a plural. As with “there’s,” you could make the case that putting “here’s” before a plural is standard in common speech -- idiomatic. So I’m not critical of people who make that choice unless they happen to be members of the media writing for publication. News organizations strive to avoid sloppy, informal, ungrammatical forms. They hold themselves to a higher standard, which seems like a good idea to me.   ()  I acknowledge it is not convention or purist to do so, but rather how English is used by a dominant percentage of English speakers around the world (arguable).  QUESTION: Can you provide some literature that explains the phenomenon, and provide some insight on whether the use of "Here's" is legitimate before plurals while expressing colloquial English?
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.
34134
When there are several cottages each with several tariffs (depending on the season), should the plural be "cottage tariffs" or "cottages tariffs"?  For context, this is to be a section title on a website renting out the cottages.  An explanation of the grammatical rules would be helpful.
597
When do you use commas and when do you use parentheses to provide more detail about something?  For example:   The suspect, Tom Wilson, is now being charged with murder. The suspect (Tom Wilson) is now being charged with murder. John Smith, a member of the jury, agreed with the verdict. John Smith (a member of the jury) agreed with the verdict. The first example, the one about the fox, is the more valid one. The first example (the one about the fox) is the more valid one.   I realize that the first example, the one that uses parentheses, is probably more valid in this case (if anyone has a better example, please include it), but when, if ever, would you favor parentheses?  Update: I realize that dashes are sometimes used for similar situations, so I'd appreciate information on these as well.  For example:   The children—who are wearing shoes—will go on the trip The children, who are wearing shoes, will go on the trip The children (who are wearing shoes) will go on the trip
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.
63393
Possible Duplicate:             When talking about "one and a half" of any object, do we use the subsequent noun in plural or just singular? I'm aware that "A minute and a half" is also correct but I'm looking for the specific "One and a half"-construction here.   So for example, which of the below phrases is correct?     You're one and a half minutes late!   or     You're one and a half minute late!   Is there any difference when using the phrase as an adjective like so: "One-and-a-half-minute recipe"?