Today’s two grammar tips:
- “Administer,” not “administrate,” is the verb form of “administration.” “Orient,” not “orientate,” is the verb form of “orientation.” “Reconcile,” not “reconciliate,” is the verb form of “reconciliation.” Be wary of verbs that end in “ate,” and look for shorter, stronger forms. Of course, many verbs ending in “ate” are correct, such as “create” and “castigate.”
- Even though a noun appears to be plural, it might take a singular verb. For example, branches of knowledge such as mathematics, physics, ethics, politics and social studies take singular verbs. For a good review of tricky plurals, check out this entry at englishplus.com.
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