Free 21st Century Grammar Handbook by Barbara Ann Kipfer Page B

problems will be solved.” The error is the lack of agreement between the singular nouns in the dependent clause and the plural
possessive pronoun
“their,” which has no clear plural
antecedent
with which it can agree. The only way to avoid such errors is to reread, revise, and check everything you write to make sure clauses agree logically and grammatically. The more complex or longer the pieces of a sentence, the more careful you must be to preserve clear, sensible relationships between clauses. Having more than two clauses in any one sentence simply multiplies the need to pay attention to agreement among all the statement’s elements. See also
revision, number,
and
plural.
C LAUSES AS P ARTS OF S PEECH
    Remember that clauses can function in
sentences
as virtually any part of speech: noun,
adjective, adverb,
and so on: “What you are deciding bears on who will attend the meeting.” The first dependent clause in the example (“What you are deciding”) operates as a
noun
and the
subject
in the sentence; the second clause (“who will attend the meeting”) is also a noun, but here it functions as the
object
of a
preposition.
It is important to treat clauses functioning as
parts of speech
in the correct grammatical way.
    Cliché. Clichés are overused expressions of various kinds that have become Worn out and should not be used in most
standard English
writing.
    Just when an expression becomes tired and looses its expressive force is not clear, so the danger of clichéd writing is always present, particularly when writing contains hidden metaphors or similes. That is, what once seemed to be a fresh and interesting comparison may now have been used so often that we don’t even recognize it as a metaphor or simile invented long ago to good purpose. We talk and write more or less automatically about aims and targets, for instance, without sensing the underlying metaphor of weapons and war that long ago shaped such expressions. While using such hidden images isn’t wrong, one would do better to find new expressive means wherever possible to enliven one’s writing. Clichés are, on the other hand, quick ways to convey a known or assumed bit of information or idea.
    Co. This
abbreviation
stands for “company,” “country,” or “county.” Like all such shortenings of words, it is acceptable in some business prose, but it is best to spell the word out fully in most formal writing.
    Collective noun. Collective
nouns
are words that refer to groups of people or things: “orchestra” is a single word that names many people; a “pride” of lions or “handful” of pins similarly is one word representing many individual things. In standard American English, collective nouns are singular and agree with singular verbs: “The orchestra is playing.” “The pride of lions sleeps under a tree.” “Ahandful of pins sticks in your palm.” In standard
British English
such words are often
plural:
“The orchestra are playing.”
    Some collective nouns can be either plural or singular, depending on how they are used in a sentence: “A number of lions are sleeping under a tree.” “The number of lions sleeping under the tree is small.” See
agreement
and
standard English.
    Collective pronoun. Collective
pronouns
like
“none”
are generally singular and agree with singular
verbs.
But
standard English
is evolving in this regard, finding acceptable the use of “none” with
plural
verbs in many cases. See
agreement.
    Colloquial. Everyday speech and writing are called “colloquial,” a word whose derivation suggests two important aspects of
grammar
and
usage.
“Colloquial” comes from
Latin
roots having to do with both talking and words; it evidently was used in ancient times to distinguish the formal, high
style
of communicating from the mundane, day-to-day language of the people.
    While the ancients could perhaps make such a distinction clearly—between the way to talk or write in different, easily separated