These are our English pluralization rules:

1. For nouns ending in a consonant, add the letter s to make the noun plural (e.g., books).
2. For nouns ending in ch, x, s, and s-like sounds, add es (e.g., witches).
3. For items ending in y, change the y to an i and add es (e.g., supplies).
4. For some nouns, use the irregular plural form (e.g., children).
5. For Latin and Greek nouns, use their respective plural forms (e.g., syllabi).
6. For acronyms, add an s (e.g., NGOs).
7. For years, add an s (e.g., the 1980s).
8. For credentials, add an s (e.g., PhDs)
9. For profession acronyms, add an s (e.g., MDs)
10. For single alphabet letters, use an apostrophe  + s (e.g., She got four A’s and two B’s.)
11. For reference to plural words, use an apostrophe + s (e.g., The sentence has too many and’s.)

Read More →

Subordinate or dependent clauses are ones that cannot stand alone. Compare with main or independent clauses, which are clauses that can stand alone. To understand this fully, you need to know the following:

1. A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a predicate.
2. A subject is the part of the clause indicating what or who performs the action or what the clause is about.
3. A predicate is the part of the clause containing a verb and stating something about the subject.
4. A complex sentence includes a subordinate clause and an independent clause.
5. A subordinate conjunction is a word that begins the subordinate clause and makes that clause weaker than (i.e., reducing the importance of the independent clause).

Now, let’s look at some examples.

Read More →