It seems that people overwhelmingly prefer to write     Which type of nuts are the healthiest?   to     Which type of nuts is the healthiest?   However, type is singular, so why isn't is the correct choice?  Edit if you type these sentences with quotes into Google (phrase search), you'll see that the first one occurs about 3000 times on the web,  and the second one basically never.
1830
Is it correct to say, "What kind of patents are being issued in these sophisticated times?" It seems like it should be What kind of patents is being issued..., but that sounds wrong.  What kind of patent is being issued... is correct and sounds right, but loses a little bit of the original meaning.  Is there something magic about what kind that allows it to be plural, or do people just misuse it a lot?
24451
While adding to an Answer to  question, I needed to use the above phrase, and I suddenly realised I was unsure whether to write "is" or "are".   There is more than one way to skin a cat. If there are more than one species of cat, we will flay each species differently.   I don't think that second example above sounds quite right to me (disregarding the meaning - sorry!), but in my original Answer I felt "is" would have been even worse.  Is "are" always wrong here? If so, what exactly is the rationale? If not, is there a case where it's unquestionably preferred – and why is that?    Note that in both the problematic Answer and my example attempting to mimic the same context more briefly, the writer doesn't know how many there are. There may be one, more, or even none.  Getting even more specific, the writer might have an opinion on how many there might be, and wish to convey his leanings by choice of verb form if language allows this to be done succinctly.
73008
Possible Duplicate:     Which one is correct? I thought the latter would be correct but apparently the former is always used; why? Edit: Another (confusing) example:
79584
Heard at the cafe: "We have three milks: soy, almond, and cow."  Is it ok to use the word "milks" in this context? I've heard it in other uncountable nouns, like "essential oils", or "simple sugars", or "red wines", so why can't we ask, "which milks do you have?"
11868
Suppose John has 5 sweets. Is there any difference between the following two sentences?     Jack has 3 times as many sweets as John.      Jack has 3 times more sweets than John.   I prefer the first construction and would know unambiguously that Jack has 15 sweets in this case. However in the second construction I would be inclined to think that Jack has 20 sweets, since it seems to suggest 15 sweets in addition to the original 5.
110148
I'm having a hard time understanding whether to use plural or singular while making general sentences.   Doing a bit of research I found both can be used. For example:      Dogs are loyal animals.     A dog is a loyal animal.    (Both these sentences are talking about all/any dogs in general)      A child needs care.     Children need care.    (Both these sentences talk about all/ any children in general).  Now, as for the question: Recently, I looked up in the internet as to when is a definite article used. It says "We use the definite article in front of a noun when we believe 'the reader' knows exactly what we are referring to."  I think this statement is a general statement about the use of definite article. My first question,  am I right in thinking that this is a general statement?   Second question is, what if we use 'readers' in place of 'the reader'?  Will there be a change in meaning then? I'm asking this question because if this is a general statement then if I use 'a reader' or 'readers' in place of 'the reader' then it should all mean the same, i.e., all of them should be expressing 'any reader' just like the examples above (1 to 4). Right?  Another example:     (1)  Banks are financial institutions where 'a lender' meets 'a borrower'.   I guess this is also a general statement about banks. So can I phrase this sentence like this without any change in meaning?      (2)  Banks are financial institutions where 'lenders' meet 'borrowers'.   In sentence (1), 'a lender' expresses just one lender or any lender? In sentence (2), 'lenders' expresses more than one lender or any lender in general?
78861
How do you I refer to different kind of an uncountable noun? For example, this is a part of my writing:     Using oil (coconut oil, olive oil) to moisturize your skin after bath. Those oil...   I want to explicitly refer to two kinds of oil to avoid other oil like engine oil mistakenly. Does those suit here? Are they countable? I think it's yes (look, I use they and them to refer to them in this sentence and the previous one). However, isn't that after using those, we should use the plural form of the noun? In that case, oils, not oil, should be use, right? And in that case, is oil a countable noun now?
30570
My teacher was explaining how sometimes a comma isn't enough to make a sentence correct, and that sometimes you have to use a semicolon. I am having trouble figuring out when you should use which.   Can someone please explain?
113437
When stating a general fact/preference on countable nouns, singular or plural is more suitable and natural? Example 1 :  I like apple. or I like apples.  Example 2:  I like eating apple. or I like eating apples.
69455
"Debris are called toxins."  In this sentence, should I use "is" or "are"? I understand "debris" is an uncountable noun, so normally I would use "is". But I am referring to different kinds of debris. Toxins are referring to a collection of debris. So is "are" the correct way?  Or should I reformat this sentence?
124163
I usually use the plural form after "some."   Example:     I bought some books about France   But I would also say some source states that France is best toured in fall.  Is there a specific grammar rule? May I say that in the second sentence I am really thinking at a very specific source, so singular is needed?
6039
One of the things that makes him great is he brings it every night.   I'm pretty sure it should be that make him in the plural, because one of the things is referring to a lot of things and a lot of things should take a plural verb. But I always hear native speakers in America say it in the singular, so with an s.  Another example:     This is one of the responsibilities that comes with greatness and he understands that.   Native speakers always use the verb in the singular (here, comes) even though [I believe] it is grammatically incorrect to use the singular form of the verb there.
51036
Recently I've come across sentences that doesn't have "one" in it and it looks like odd to me because I'm used to say "which one...?" The sentences must be correct because they are from a grammar.  Examples:     Which do you prefer - meat or fish?      You can have tea or coffee - which do you prefer?   To me,"which one" would be more correct. I don't know. Perhaps sometimes "which" and "which one" can be interchangeable.
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.
22718
My classmate wrote a text about zoos in general, and the word &quot;zoos&quot; in plural form is mentioned many times in it. Later in the text he uses singular form &quot;zoo&quot; two times with indefinite articles, and both times he still refers to an abstract zoo, not to specific one. He wrote:  The place where animals can obtain shelter is a zoo. You can take the kids to a zoo.  I'm having trouble in figuring out whether it is correct or not. I think that he should have used a definite article the second time, because he already mentioned a singular abstract zoo, but he argues that he refers to &quot;two different singular abstract zoos&quot;. So which article should be used in a second sentence?
40451
Sentences are:   "The rainforests are in danger." "Rainforests are in danger."  So in this case, I think that they are both correct sentences...but:  "Guitars are musical instruments."  "The guitars are musical instruments."  In this case, we are still making generic statements about a plural noun, but the second one sounds bizarre. This for a student. I'm not sure WHY it's awkward. Why do we opt for "The guitar is a musical instrument."  Thanks in advance :)
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?'