Doubt that - is this preferable to doubt whether?
"I doubt that he is correct"
"Doubt that" would be preferable. "Whether" is used to indicate uncertainty between two options: either he is correct or he is wrong, in your example. You don't doubt the uncertainty of his correctness. You doubt his correctness, period. (Pardon the awkward phrasing, I hope it gets the point across.)
Conform to - NOT with?
"You must conform to the school rules"
I have always heard it said "conform to," and the GMAT seems to agree.
Account to - when receiving blame or credit
"You will have to account to your crimes" - I assumed that " You will have to account for your crimes" was better?
"Account for your crimes" sounds better to me, too.
But consider this one: "You will have to account to the judge for your crimes."
I think which one you use depends on the context: account to a person, account for a thing.
Reduction of - is this used for specific numbers?
"Reduction of 20%"
It can be; your example is good. "A spending reduction of 20% is not sufficient to erase the state deficit."
Majority - assume used with count nouns only
"the majority of the money" - WRONG
But what is right?
"the bulk of the money"
"The greater part of the money"
You actually can talk about the "majority of the money": even though money is not countable, it is often measured in countable units (e.g. dollars). Thus, "The majority of the money in the state budget was used to pay for useless programs" is OK.
Can collective nouns take BOTH singular and plural verbs
"The team want to go" - treat the team as a single unit
"The team wants to go" - treat the team as a group of individuals
Is it correct to say that the two examples above are grammatically correct?
No, the team is always singular. Think of it this way: team
s are plural. If you want to talk about the individuals on the team, then use them as the subject. Also, remember that verbs are made
singular by the addition of an 's.' The following are correct:
"The team wants to go to the championship."
"The team members want to go to the championship."
