Syntax

Were there fewer (or less) patent infringement suits filed this month than the previous month? Count Nouns: What Are They: Count nouns refer to individual, countable, or quantifiable items. This includes both concrete nouns (dogs, children, books) and abstract nouns (ideas, moments, thoughts). They can be singular or plural. Modifiers:

Are either of the 2024 candidates acceptable to you? Or is neither candidate acceptable to you? Distributive Determiners that Always Require a Singular Verb: Either/Neither: Refers to one (or not one) out of two items: “Neither of your claims is sufficient to convey standing.” Exception—Neither/Nor OR Either/Or Constructions: Agree the

Was there a FBI raid last week? Or is that an FBI raid? Acronym: An acronym is an abbreviation in which the resulting term is pronounced as a single word. Examples: NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration); OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries); PIN (personal identification number). Rule: Since an

Should you ever begin a sentence with however? Or should you only use however in a mid-sentence construction? General Use of However: However is a conjunctive adverb that typically signals an upcoming contrast or contradiction: “Defendant disagreed with the prosecutor’s framing of his actions. The evidence, however, speaks for itself.”

Does plaintiff’s claim only get her so far? Or does her claim get only so far? Changing Sentence Meaning by Changing the Placement of “Only”: Only Before the Verb: The defendant only admitted to the theft. Interpretation: The defendant did nothing except admit to a theft. Only After the Verb: