Message de gizm0 posté le 2004-05-12 20:22:39 (S | E | F | I)
Grammar Tips

Singular or Plural?

All/Any/None All, any, and none
These words can be singular or plural. If you mean all of it, any of it, or none of it, use a singular verb.
He/Her/They
Always use the singular he or her with such words as anybody, anyone, everybody, everyone, nobody, no one, somebody, someone, each, either, and neither
ics words
Words that end in ics - like economics, mathematics, politics, statistics - are singular
What
What can also be singular or plural. If what stands for one thing, use a singular verb. If it stands for several things, use a plural verb.
Anybody's, everybody's, somebody's, and nobody's
These words are always plural.
Couple, total, majority, and number
These words can be singular or plural.
Making Words Plural

Names
Form the plural by adding s, even if the last letter is y. If the name ends in s, sh, ch, x, or z, add es.
Proper Word Choice

However
Do not use however at the beginning of a sentence
I or me
Use me after a proposition: words like after, before, by, like, toward, with. An easy way to determine whether to write you and me or you and I is to put the tricky pronoun - me or I - first.
Its/It's
It's is short for it is; its is the possessive form of it, as in: "The corporation gave its assent to proceed.
Lay or Lie
Lie means to recline or fib; lay means to place
Rise or Raise
Rise means to go up or get up; raise means to bring something up.
Sit or Set
Sit means to be seated; set means to place.
That or Which
Eliminate the needless use of which. Only use which in two instances:
which goes inside commas
if you can drop the clause and not lose the meaning of the sentence, use which
Their/There/They're
Their is the possessive form of they. There is the opposite of here. They're is shorthand for they are.
Use or Used
In a question, choose use. Did use is another way of saying used.
Who or Whom
Who does sometimes (it's a subject). Whom has something done to it (it's an object, like him). You might try mentally substituting he or him for who or whom; if him fits, you want whom. Who is doing what to whom.
Who's or Whose
If you can substitute who is or who has, use who's
Will or Would
If the lead verb is past tense, use would. If the lead verb is present tense, use will.
Your or You're
If you can substitute you are, use you're
Possessives

If word is singular, add 's, even if the ending is s, z, or x. If the word is plural and doesn't already end in s, add 's. If the word is plural and ends in s, just add the '.

If two people possess something in common, consider them a single unit and put a single 's at the end. If two people possess something individually, each name gets an 's.

Verbs

Subjects and verbs must agree. If the subject is singular, so is the verb. If the subject is plural, so is the verb.

In a sentence that begins: I wish I or If I, always use the word were, not was.

Colloquial Phrases

Do not use colloquial phrases or clichés. Never use the following words in formal writing:

ain't, could've, should've, would've, might've, must've, it'd, that'd, there'd, this'd, what'd, that'all, that're, that've, there'll, there're, there've, this'll, when'll, when're, when's, where'd, where'll, where're, where's, why're, why's why've, gonna, gotta, wanna.

Punctuation

A comma separates phrases; a semi-colon separates complete sentences.

pris de:
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/writing_guides/grammar.cfm