All right or Alright

All right has a range of meanings including safe, as in Are you all right? Or reliable;
good, as in That fellow is all right. As an adverb, it means satisfactorily as in His work is
coming along all right, or yes, as in All right, Ill go with you.

The form alright is a one-word spelling of the phrase all right. Alright is commonly used in
written dialogue and informal writing, but all right is the only acceptable form in edited
writing. Basically, it is not all right to use alright in place of all right in Standard English.

Nouns That Have Irregular Plural Forms

There are some nouns that form the plurals differently.

Some nouns change their vowels in the middle of the singular form when forming the plural.

foot feet
goose - geese
louse - lice
man - men
mouse - mice
tooth - teeth
woman - women

Compounds of words man and woman form plurals the same way:

mailman - mailmen

Words that contain the syllable "man" such as in the word human form the plural by adding
the letter s as with most plurals.

Several nouns form the plural by adding the letters en:

child - children
ox - oxen

Some words with descriptive adjectives and hyphens form the plural by adding the correct
affix to the noun portion of the word.

father-in-law - fathers-in law

mother-in-law - mothers-in-law
brother-in-law - brothers-in-law
sister-in-law - sisters-in-law
attorney-general - attorneys-general
secretary-general - secretaries general

There are a number of animals that have the same singular and plural form:
 bison - bison
deer - deer
moose - moose
sheep - sheep
swine - swine

There are also some animal names that form the plural the same as the singular or use the s or
es form:

antelope - antelope or antelopes

cod - cod or cods
elk - elk or elks
fish - fish or fishes
flounder - flounder or flounders
grouse - grouse or grouses
herring - herring or herrings
quail - quail or quails
reindeer - reindeer or reindeers
salmon - salmon or salmons
shrimp - shrimp or shrimps
trout - trout or trouts

The Appositive

Recognize an appositive when you see one.

An appositive is a noun or noun phrase that renames another noun right beside it. The
appositive can be a short or long combination of words. Look at these appositive examples,
all of which rename insect:

The insect, a cockroach, is crawling across the kitchen table.

The insect, a large cockroach, is crawling across the kitchen table.

The insect, a large cockroach with hairy legs, is crawling across the kitchen table.

The insect, a large, hairy-legged cockroach that has spied my bowl of oatmeal, is
crawling across the kitchen table.

Here are more examples:

During the dinner conversation, Clifford, the messiest eater at the table, spewed mashed
potatoes like an erupting volcano.

My 486 computer, a modern-day dinosaur, chews floppy disks as noisily as my brother

does peanut brittle.
Genette's bedroom desk, the biggest disaster area in the house, is a collection of overdue
library books, dirty plates, computer components, old mail, cat hair, and empty potato chip
bags.

Reliable, Diane's eleven-year-old beagle, chews holes in the living room carpeting as if he
were still a puppy.

Punctuate the appositive correctly.

The important point to remember is that a nonessential appositive is always separated from
the rest of the sentence with comma(s).

When the appositive begins the sentence, it looks like this:

A hot-tempered tennis player, Robbie charged the umpire and tried to crack the poor man's
skull with a racket.

When the appositive interrupts the sentence, it looks like this:

Robbie, a hot-tempered tennis player, charged the umpire and tried to crack the poor man's
skull with a racket.

And when the appositive ends the sentence, it looks like this:

Upset by the bad call, the crowd cheered Robbie, a hot-tempered tennis player who charged
the umpire and tried to crack the poor man's skull with a racket.

Cause vs Reason

What is the difference between Cause and Reason? :

Cause: (noun)

(1) that which produces an effect, thing, event, person, etc.make something happen.

What was the cause of the fire?

Smoking is one of the causes of heart disease.

(2) Aim, principle or movement that is strongly defended or supported

His life was devoted to the cause of justice.

Cause: (verb)

(1) make happen.

Be a cause of something
Smoking can cause lung cancer.
She is always causing trouble for people.
The cold weather caused the plants to die.
Reason: (noun)

(1) motive or justification for something.

Give me the reason for your going.

He has adequate reason for doing so.

(2) Power of the mind to think, understand, form opinion, etc.

Only man has reason.

(3) What is right or practical or possible

Common sense
Judgment

There is a good deal of reason in what you say.

(4) CAUSE of something is what makes something happen.

The police are investigating the cause of the explosion.

(5) REASON for something has a wider use. It can be the explanation that people give for
why something is done.

(6) What was the reason for his resignation?

She did not give any reason for leaving.

Cause or Causes

Subject verb agreement of the following sentence:

"Children are prevented from eating pancakes which cause/causes bowl irritation."

The actual subject of cause/causes is "which," the relative pronoun. Now whether "which"
refers to pancakes or eating pancakes is another matter, and that's a problem with the
sentence. A comma before "which" would be helpful (in fact, it's unusual to use a restrictive
clause [the "which" clause] without the comma); in "Children are prevented from eating
pancakes, which cause bowel irritation" the "which" more clearly refers to "pancakes." If we
said, instead, "Children are prevented from eating pancakes that cause bowel irritation," the
meaning is also clear and the "that" would refer to "pancakes." If we said, "Children are
prevented from eating pancakes, a diet that causes bowel irritation," the ambiguity is gone --
"a diet" being an appositive for "eating pancakes," I think. Or we could say "a food that
causes bowel irritation," and then we'd have an appositive for pancakes. The fact is -- I'm
afraid I disagree with you -- it's the pancakes, not the eating of them, that causes the problem,
and you want to build your sentence so that's clear.
(Also, watch that spelling of bowel; it's not bowl.)

Many Vs Many a/an

Many

The word many has two common functions:

A) It is often used as an adjective that describes a plural noun and tells us that there is a large
number of that noun, as in these examples:

1. She worked hard for many years.

2. They were one of the many, many families that came to watch the parade.

B) Many is also commonly used as a pronoun, to mean many people or things, as in these
examples:

1. Some people will come to the meeting, but many [=many people] will not.
2. We were hoping to sell our old books, but many [=many books] were not in good
condition.
3. I know some of the people here, but not very many.

Many a/an...

The fixed expression many a/an... is more formal than the single word many, and it is much
less common. Many a/an... is used mainly in literary writing and newspapers. Like the
adjective and pronoun many discussed above, many a/an... is used to indicate a large number
of something. However, it takes a singular noun, which can be followed by a singular verb.
Here are some examples:

1. It remained a mystery for many a year. [=for many years]

2. I've been there many a time. [=many times]
3. Many a politician has promised to make changes. [Politician and has are singular.]