What is happening to the English language? I learned the difference between singular and plural nouns while in elementary school. That was reinforced during middle school, high school and college. It ...

The couple is going to purchase the house? Or the couple are going to purchase the house? Even after all my years of editing, I can still get tripped up trying to make verbs agree with collective ...

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 ...

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. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home ...

An anonymous reader from downstate Marion had a seemingly simple pair of questions: "Would you say, 'The couple has - or have - three children?' And 'The couple has - or have - one child"? Once I ...

How would you rate your command of English grammar? On a five-point scale, are you (1) very weak, (2) weak, (3) average, (4) strong or (5) exceptional? Do you have a number or level in mind? Good. Now ...

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; ...