The Editor’s Manual
Free learning resource on English grammar, punctuation, usage, and style.
How words and phrases are used: formal, acceptable, and incorrect usage.
“I” is a subject pronoun, while “me” is an object pronoun. In formal styles, use “I” in a compound subject and “me” in a compound object. “Me” is generally preferred in comparisons and after the “be” verb.
Pronouns starting with “some” and “any” indicate unspecified things and persons but convey different meanings and points of view in questions, statements, and conditionals.
“No” is more emphatic than “not any” and is used more often in formal contexts. “A/an” instead of “any” is used with singular countable nouns in negative statements. “Not a” and “no” are not interchangeable.
“Some” and “any” both indicate quantity and are used in questions, statements, and conditionals, where they convey different points of view, assumptions, and expectations.
Use “you and I” as the subject and “you and me” as the object in a sentence. Avoid hypercorrection. “You and me” is used more often after the “be” verb and in comparisons.
Names of decades and centuries (the 1800s, the 1970s, the eighties, the ’90s) are generally considered plural but can also be used with singular verbs.
“Any” can be singular or plural, depending on whether you mean “at least one” or “one or more.” It is generally used with uncountable and plural countable nouns in questions and negative statements, though it may be used with a singular countable noun for emphasis.
One of a group is singular (“one of them is” not “are”). But when “one of” is followed by “who” or “that,” check what is being described: one person or thing, or the plural set.
Use “either-or” to affirm the one or the other of two alternatives and “neither-nor” to negate them both simultaneously. Make sure that the elements joined using “or” and “nor” are grammatically balanced and parallel in structure.
“Either” is grammatically singular and used with singular verbs (like “is” and “has”) in formal usage. In informal usage, the word may be treated as either singular or plural.