As a pronoun they usually talks about a group of people, but it can also talk about one person.

Does this sound good?

• I don’t know who broke the window, but he or she is going to pay for a new one!

Of course it doesn’t. So, we use they.

• I don’t know who broke the window, but they are going to pay for a new one!
• I don’t know who was driving the bus, but they were very good.
• Whoever cleans the kitchen, I wish they would do a better job

More help with pronouns.

Write the numbers 0 – 10 as words.

(zero – ten)

• I ate three eggs for breakfast.
• In this picture you can see one man, two houses, and 12 windows.

Never start a sentence with digit.

• 21,500 live in Higher Campbell Town.
• Higher Campbell Town has a population of 21,550.

If you are writing a technical document use digits.

There is a problem in line 6 of the code.

More help with numbers.

People is the plural of person.

Persons is only used in legal, and official instructions and documents.

• One person was swimming in the pool.
• Hundreds of people were killed in the fighting.
• All persons entering the building are required to follow the official instructions.

More help with nouns.

Practice is the noun form.

(with -c is the noun)

Practise is the verb form.

(with -s is the verb)

• You need more practice.

(with -c is the noun)

• You should practise more.

(with -s is the verb)

• It takes a lot of practice to be good at anything.
• You must keep practising to be good at anything.

More examples:

• advice & advise
• device & devise
• licence & license
• prophecy & prophesy

More help with confused words.

You always need an introductory sentence which ends with a colon (:).

If the text after a bullet point is a complete sentence, it should be punctuated like a normal sentence.

What to take on holiday:

• You will need suncream to protect your skin.
• Don’t forget to take your passport.
• A credit or debit card to give you access to money.

If the text after a bullet point isn’t a full sentence, it doesn’t need to be punctuated.

What to take on holiday:

• sun cream
• passport
• credit or debit card

When you agree with a positive say yes. When you agree with a negative say no.

• ‘You haven’t had your lunch.’

‘No.’

(I agree with your negative sentence – I have not had my lunch.)

• ‘Liverpool are the greatest team in the world.’

‘Yes, I agree.’

(I agree with your positive sentence.)

More help with constructing good sentences.

When we use more than one adjective before a noun, which are one idea, we connect them with a hyphen (-).

• He is a good-looking man.

(The meaning is not good man and looking man. The meaning is a man that looks good. They are one idea, so we link the adjectives.)

• The slow-moving train arrived late.

When the adjectives before the noun are different ideas, we put a comma between them.

• The furry, black cat.

(The meaning is that the cat is furry, and the cat is black.)

• When the adjectives come after the noun, we don’t use a hyphen.

Compare:

• The blue-eyed cat has just had a bath.

(adjectives/ blue-eyed, noun/cat)

• The cat with blue eyes has just had a bath.

(noun/cat, adjectives/blue eyes)

• The slow-moving train arrived late.
• The train was slow moving so it arrived late.

More help with adjectives.

Some nouns are uncountable and don’t have a plural form.

• I would like to give you some advices.
• I would like to give you some advice.
• She has a lot of knowledges about gardens.
• She has a lot of knowledge about gardens.

Some nouns can be countable and uncountable.

• There are 48 spaces in this car park.

(Space is used to talk about defined individual places for cars and is countable.)

• I have no space for my books.

(Space is used to talk about a non-defined area and is uncountable.)

Other common uncountable nouns are:

• news
• information
• research
• work
• equipment
• luggage
• furniture

When talking about something in the negative followed by something else in the negative you should use neither… nor…

• I don’t like either tea or coffee.
• I like neither tea nor coffee.
• He is neither quick nor good.

More help with constructing good sentences.

When using the third person singular add –s to the verb.

• My hippo runs very fast.

(it/hippo + verb/run + s)

• He works in an office.
• Maria walks to work.

With questions and negatives don’t add -s to the verb.

• He doesn’t like football.

(negative)

• He likes football.

(positive + s)

• Does he like football?

(question)

More help with verbs.

The present perfect is a present tense so, it only tells us about the situation now. It is an update of something that started in the past.

• I have known Julie for ten years.

(I started to know Julie in the past, but we use the present perfect because we are talking about the present situation – now is ten years after I first met Julie.)

• My brother has been to Mexico three times.

(We use the present perfect because at this moment he has visited Mexico three times.)

• I have visited Tanya once this week.

(Today is Tuesday so this week is at this moment.)

The past simple is a past tense so it only tells us about the past.

• I spoke French when I was at school.

(I am 35 years old now, and I am not at school. Finished time, finished action.)

• My grandfather went to Mexico three times.

(My grandfather is dead, and it is not possible for him to go to Mexico again.)

• I saw Conrad last week.

(It talks about last week, and last week is finished.)

Compare:

• I fed my cat some special food, so he has grown very big.

(fed is in the past simple because the action of feeding has finished. has grown is in the present perfect because he started to grow in the past and he is still growing now.)

• Yesterday we enjoyed a lovely walk. Today it has been very windy, and the walk hasn’t been nice.

(Yesterday is finished, Today is at this moment.)

More help with tenses.

What we say and what we write are different.

• 16th April 2006.

(We write.)

• 16th of April 2000 and 6.

(We say.)

• The attack took place on 10th January 2013.

(We write.)

• The attack took place on the 10th of January 2000 and 13.

(We say.)

Also, date first, then month, then year. It is logical and clear.

• 16th April 2006 or 16/04/06

More help with numbers.