Generate the answer for a given question. The question requires common knowledge of English. Make sure that the answer is in detail, long, consistent with the context, and requires general knowledge of English. To be less repetitive, please vary your language for each question. Give a proper explanation to answer, and if necessary, provide the definition of various terms. And conclude your answer if it's long. If you have used other resources (e.g., Merriam Webster's.) to answer the question, include citations in your answer. You don't need to paraphrase the context of your resources, but make sure that your answer is consistent and complete.

Input: Consider Input: In other words, which sentence is correct? At least one of them is not coming. At least one of them are not coming.

Output: In English, grammatical number often follows the form of the sentence rather than its meaning, especially in cases where the meaning allows for a variable number in the subject. In those cases, the verb usually agrees with the syntactic number of the closest subject noun instead of the meaning of the whole noun phrase. For example: Some of them are not coming. One or more of them are not coming. These sentences means the same thing as your example. They both use a plural verb because the nearest subject nouns, some and more, are plural. However, in your example, the nearest noun is singular: At least one of them is not coming. Therefore, the verb follows the same (singular) form as the noun, even though the noun phrase in the subject allows for the possibility of more than one. Note that this rule affects both the number and person of the verb: Either those jerks or I am not coming. In this case, the verb is the first-person singular am because the nearest subject noun is the first-person singular I. However, many people would find this construction awkward and rewrite the sentence in a more natural way, perhaps: Either those jerks aren't coming, or I'm not.


Input: Consider Input: Is there a way to indicate that somebody is your girlfriend without using the possessive term my? I think saying She/He is my partner/other half is OK for married people, but it doesn't feel right for girlfriends and boyfriends.

Output: There is nothing wrong with using my. Saying my medical appointment does not mean the medical appointment belongs to me, but just that it is connected to me in some way. Stick to my for there is no alternative which expresses the idea succinctly.


Input: Consider Input: Possible Duplicate: Position of question mark when sentence doesn't end with question Take this statement for example: That's not the question. The question is what was Colonel Mustard doing in the bedroom with the revolver. or That's not the question. The question is what was Colonel Mustard doing in the bedroom with the revolver? or That's not the question. The question is 'what was Colonel Mustard doing in the bedroom with the revolver?'.


Output: I'd rather say: That's not the question. The question is: What was Colonel Mustard doing in the bedroom with the revolver? That's not the question. The question is, what was Colonel Mustard doing in the bedroom with the revolver? I used a colon or a comma because you're introducing a question that you are asking. I'll explain better: If you use quotes, it means someone else said it. The second one lacks the colon and it looks bad, because you must put a limit between the statement and the following question. I.E. I was wondering do you have a car? As you see, it makes little sense, unless you say 'I was wondering, do you have a car?'. The first one might be used, I guess, because indirect interrogatives might be written as statements. A small edit about this last sentence above: @Cerberus made me notice that indirect questions are such with no inversion. So I was thinking that if someone could add others point of views, it would be nice, in order to make this point clear for me and others once and for all. Native speakers are particularly welcome!