I don't understand these Writing solutions.

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1

<p>How is this proper "the media report the lies"
shouldn't it be the media reports?</p>

<p>The convenience and widespread availability of water color paint "account for its popularity" with amateur artists.
Why isn't it ACCOUNTS for?</p>

<p>Also this one..
"---The eerie songs of humpback whales, often lower in pitch and longer than bird---, are intriguing to scientists partly because whales have no functional vocal cords."</p>

<p>"----The eerie songs of humpback whales , often lower in pitch and lasting longer than those of birds----, to scientists partly because whales have no functional vocal cords."</p>

<p>Why is it necessary to have "lasting" longer????</p>

2

<p>Media is plural, 'medium' is singular. A lot of people have misconceptions about this.</p>

<p>Convenience and widespread availability .. that's two things. You need the plural form of the verb.</p>

<p>Last question -- I'm not sure what you're asking. Either with or without the 'lasting' seems to be grammatically correct. I guess with just sounds better. First choice has incorect comparison between whale songs and birds (should be bird songs).</p>

3

<p>media is the plural of medium.</p>

4

<p>oh.. i was looking at media as though it were a singular noun (obviously).. any other words like that , that are tricky?
thanks i understand now.</p>

5

<p>One that comes to my mind is 'data'. Did you know that 'data' is plural? The singular is 'datum'! So, </p>

<p>"The data are..."</p>

<p>"The datum is..." <-- not that 'datum' is gonna show up on the SAT, though.</p>

6

<p>Deer can be plural... </p>

<p>by the way..
data can also be singular.</p>