Academic Writing for International Students of Business

(iv) ‘Each/every’ are followed by singular noun and verb forms:

Every student gets financial support.

(v) Two linked nouns should agree:

Both the similaritiesand differencesare important.

 Link each problem area (i–v) with one of the errors (a–e).

2 Group phrases

 Study the following ‘group’ phrases.

138 Part 2: Elements of Writing

Note that if a verb has more than one subject, it must be plural, even if the preceding noun
is singular:

Scores of students, some teachers and the president areat the meeting.

Their valuable suggestions and hard work werevital.

Certain ‘group’ nouns (e.g. team/army/government) can be followed by either a singular or
plural verb:

The team wasdefeated three times last month.(collectively)

The team weretravelling by train and bus.(separately)

3 Uncountable nouns

(a) Most nouns in English are countable, but the following are generally uncountable (i.e.
they are not usually used with numbers or the plural ‘s’).

accommodation information scenery

advice knowledge staff

behaviour money traffic

commerce news travel

data permission trouble

singular + plural plural + singular plural + uncountable

half the universities two types of institution three areas of enquiry

a range of businesses various kinds of course several fields of research

one of the elements many varieties of response rates of progress