Victoria, non praeda. ("Victory, not loot." Sounds an awful like "Victoria! No more Prada!" doesn't it?)

-- Unknown, but bet your bippy it wasn't Prada.

-- Holly Jahangiri (who stole it from "Unknown")

-- Holly Jahangiri 's Mom (What, you thought I'd translate it for you?)

It is a writer's never-ending job to play peacemaker between verbs and their subjects, to help them reach accord and keep the lines of communication open at all times. Who knew that writing required such finesse and skill in diplomacy?

Collective nouns represent a collection of people or things to be considered as a single entity, such as family, team, group, or committee.

In American English, it is more common to pair a collective noun with a singular verb: The family is going to the lake this summer. Or: The team is winning. Oddly enough, Americans most frequently use a plural pronoun to refer back to the collective noun, in which case it takes the usual plural verb form: The family is going to the lake this summer. They are planning to stay in a log cabin near the shore.

In British English, it is more common to pair collective nouns with plural verbs: The family are going to the lake this summer. Or: The team are winning.

Collective nouns are often followed by a prepositional phrase beginning with the word "of," indicating what sort of things or people are included in the collection. For example: A group of children plays in the field. A flock of pigeons pecks at the ground nearby.

It isn't wrong, though, to say, "A group of children are playing in the field nearby." Clearly, this group of children is not acting as a single entity in the way each child in the group plays. The more you are referring to the group – as a whole, rather than a loose collection of individual people or things – the more "wrong" it sounds to use a plural verb with a singular noun, at least when it comes to American English. For example, unless you're British, it probably sounds wrong to your ears to say, "The team are winning." But it sounds less wrong to say, "A group of children are playing."

Over time, people have proposed creative and amusing collective nouns. One of my favorites is "an anthology of English pros." For an entertaining book full of collective nouns, see:

Verbs agree with their subjects in number (singular or plural): Two dogs bite; one dog bites harder.

Don't let whatever comes between the subject and the verb confuse you: The swirling patterns converging on the far wall were enough to make Kerry seasick.

These indefinite pronouns—each, every, either, neither, one, each—are singular. Indefinite pronouns which end in -one, -body, -thing are singular: (anyone, everyone, someone; anything, everything, something, nothing; anybody, everybody, somebody, nobody). Every by itself is not a pronoun, but everyone is.

The pronouns this and that are singular; these and those are plural.

The pronouns—several, few, both, and many—are plural. Ignore whatever follows in a prepositional phrase; the pronoun is the subject.

The pronouns—some, any, none, all, a lot, and most—are usually followed by a prepositional phrase which indicates whether the subject is singular or plural. Do not ignore the prepositional phrase when dealing with these pronouns. For example: Some of the people are unhappy with the new government. Or, Some of it is good, but you will have to throw out the rest.

Subjects joined by the conjunction and always take a plural verb (except when the word each or every precedes the words; e.g., Every boy and girl needs an education.).

When subjects are joined by or or nor, the verb agrees with the nearer subject.

When subjects follow their verbs (usually in questions) or when a sentence begins with here or there, be careful to find the subject and see that the verb agrees with it.

Collective nouns may be either singular or plural. If members of a group are working as one unit, the collective noun is considered to be singular and requires a singular verb. If members of group are working as individuals, the collective noun is considered plural and requires a plural verb.

Time, money, measurement, weight, volume, and fractions are usually singular when the amount is considered a unit.

Titles of books and names of organizations or countries, regardless of their singular or plural forms, usually take singular verbs.

Some nouns may look and sound plural (because they end in s), but they take singular verbs. For example: civics, economics, mathematics, mumps, physics, measles. Some take plural verbs; for example: acoustics, athletics, scissors, gymnastics, tactics, trousers. Some, like politics, can go either way (doesn't that just figure?)

Every or many a before a noun or a series of nouns takes a singular verb.

Verbs in clauses that follow the phrase one of those are always plural.

The word number is plural when preceded by a; it is considered singular when preceded by the. [Ed. note: Just to clarify, this refers to the word number followed by a prepositional phrase, such as "A number of doctors disagree…" or "The number of people suffering from hypochondria has not been established." But note: "A number between one and ten is the number I have in mind." This rule doesn't apply when it is the number, itself, to which you are referring.]

Until next time,

Holly Jahangiri

DB Cooper

That's right! For more history on the names of the days of the week and their origins, see http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0002065.html (be sure to look at the footnote).  Jessiebelle

PastVoices

It's an evil subject for a newsletter; once you start thinking in clichés, it's hard to stop! Thank you, Nanette.  Jessiebelle

grim

And I'm sure we all appreciate your wit, humor, humility, and effusive praise. – Jessiebelle

Thank you, Bill. That's why clichés become clichés, after all – they just sound so good, so right, so clever the first time, we're all compelled to repeat them until we've wrung them dry of originality and wit. Ever notice how, if you repeat any word over and over again, long enough, it loses all meaning?  Jessiebelle

I love getting feedback on the For Authors Newsletter – it lets me know you’re reading, and it tells me whether I’m writing about the subjects that interest you. Please keep those questions and comments coming!

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