I recently fielded questions about two subject-verb agreement errors that readers noticed in the media. One was heard on an NPR program. The other was committed by, um, a columnist who should have ...

Should you say a person’s whereabouts "is" unknown or "are" unknown? Dictionaries say "whereabouts" is one of those words that may be used with either a singular or a plural verb. One reference book ...

As terse as they normally are, newspaper headlines are designed to get your attention by, as much as possible, summarizing the main body text. Two words in last week’s headline of this column; ...

Philips are in the house. Kunle and Kelvin has not eaten. The make-up artiste as well as her friend are cool and calm. Neither Kunle nor the twins is in the class. I pray he comes early. One of the ...

Why is Christian Science in our name? Our name is about honesty. The Monitor is owned by The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and we’ve always been transparent about that. The church publishes the ...

We can use singular or plural verbs with many collective nouns, Pamela, and government is one of these. Singular and plural forms are often mixed as are the pronouns that refer back to the nouns in ...

Written for THE NEW YORK TIMES SATUR- DAY REVIEW By the Hon. John W. Foster. Formerly Secretary of State, United States Minister To Russia, Spain, &C. New York Times subscribers* enjoy full access to ...