Criteria vs. Criterion

Criterion means a standard on the basis of which something or someone is judged or evaluated.

Criterion is the singular form whereas Criteria is the plural form.

• The committee identified five important criteria for their business plan. (plural form)
• The customer feedback is the most important criterion for us. (singular form)
• The team must satisfy all the criteria for entrance to the competition or they will be rejected. (plural form)
• Safety should be the number one criterion when one buys a car. (singular form) 
• Merit should be the sole criterion for judging students. (singular form)

Note: Phrases such as a criteria, single criteria, one criteria, or this criteria should be avoided. 

Canvas vs. Canvass

Canvas is a strong coarse unbleached cloth made from hemp, flax, or a similar yarn, used to make items such as sails and tents and as a surface for oil painting.

• In modern world, canvas is the most common form of oil painting.
• Canvas began to outdistance wood panels as the preferred medium for painters in northern Europe around the 17th century.
• One can enlarge pictures on canvas to look like paintings.
• The nomadic tribes dwell in large tents made of canvas or yak wool.

Canvass is to get political support from voters.  

Canvass as a verb means to examine carefully, discuss thoroughly; scrutinise; to solicit voters, orders or opinions.

• All aspects of canvass were open to public inspection.
• As always, Sam opted to canvass in his own society first.
• The issues related to child labor are thoroughly canvassed in the upcoming report.
• The local leader spent the whole month canvassing for votes.

Continual vs. Continuous

Continual and continuous are not interchangeable.

Continual means frequently repeated or recurring. It is generally used for things that happen repeatedly, often irritatingly.

• Tired of continual interruptions, he switched off his mobile.
• Her math teacher's continual remarks has impacted her learning process.
• The minister received continual complaints from the public for the government's handling of the street protests.
• A successful project is followed by continual review and embracing change.
• I can't work with these continual interruptions.

Continuous means continuing without stopping, happening or existing without a break or interruption.

• The power backup provides enough power for unto six hours of continuous use.
• It was at Frogmore that the world's first machine for making continuous roll of paper was built.
• The continuous noise from the factory nearby kept him awake all night.
• Additional leave without pay may be requested up to a continuous period of forty eight weeks.
• There has been continuous fighting on the border for last 24 hours.

Lose vs. Loose

Lose and loose are liable to be confused.

Lose is a verb. it means not able to find, not have anymore, not win or to mislay.

• Susan loses her pen at least once a week.
• Our cricket team hasn't lost a game all year.
• Sam is always losing his car keys.
• She always loses one sock.

Loose is an adjective. It means not tight or not fastened.

• My new shoes are loose.
• His pants are loose. 
• He has a loose tooth.
• He was wearing a loose shirt.

Loose can also act like a verb meaning to undo as in loose the knot of the rope or set free as in loose the pack of dogs.

• I always lose my handkerchief (correct) --> a lost handkerchief.
• I always loose my handkerchief (incorrect) --> handkerchief is less tight 

• I like my hair loose and flowing (correct) --> loosened hair.
• I like my hair lose and flowing (incorrect) --> hair loss/ lost hair

• I feel I am going to lose my job (correct) --> not have my job anymore.
• I feel I am going to loose my job (incorrect) --> absurd meaning. How can I set free my job or unfasten it.

Note: Loose and loosen are related but not lose. 
Loosen means to make less tight as in Emily has put on weight and so she has had to loosen her belt.

Altogether vs. All together

Altogether (pronoun+adverb) means jointly; collectively at the same place or in the same time.

Usage note: All together is used only in sentences that can be rephrased so that all and together may be separated by other words.

• The guests arrived all together.
• All the guests arrived together.

• The old newspapers lay all together in a heap. 
• All the old newspapers lay together in a heap.

• Sam was most happy when we were all together.
• Sam was most happy when we all were together.

Altogether (adverb) means with everything included; entirely; with all counted; all told; on the whole; completely; totally; taking everything into consideration.

• I stopped visiting her house altogether.
• We collected altogether $1000.
• Altogether it was great day.

Disinterested vs. Uninterested

Disinterested means impartial; free of bias and self-interest; without a stake in; not influenced by considerations of personal advantage.

• Sam as a banker offered his disinterested advise to his client.
• A judge is always under an obligation to give a disinterested judgement.

Uninterested means not interested; indifferent.

• Since she discovered skating, she is uninterested in her schoolwork.
• Sarah was always uninterested in the gossips involving the famous stars.

Usage Note: In traditional english usage, disinterested cannot be used in the same way as uninterested. But despite critical disapproval, disinterested has come to be widely used by many educated writers to mean uninterested. Despite its resuscitation, this usage is widely considered an error.

Imply vs. Infer

Imply means to suggest; to indicate indirectly; to involve by logical necessity; to hint at.

When a speaker or sentence implies something, it means that it is conveyed or suggested without being stated outright: When the minister said that he would not rule out a tax increase, he implied (not inferred) that some taxes might be raised.

• Shania did not actually say that there was going to be a delay but she implied it
• The size of Sam's house implies he is doing all right.

Infer is sometimes confused with imply. 

Infer means to deduce; to figure out; to conclude from evidence or premises; surmise; to lead to as a consequence; to reason from circumstance.

Inference is the activity performed by a reader or a interpreter in drawing conclusions that are not explicit in what is said: When the minister said that he would not rule out a tax increase, we inferred that he had been consulting with his new advisers, since his old advisers were in favour of tax reductions.

• I inferred from Sam's terse reply that I had offended him.
• From the annual financial reports economists inferred the company was about to go bankrupt.

What is a Noun?

A noun is a word used as a name.

It tells about what you are talking about.
Everything around us including me and you have a name. There are names for persons, places, things, animals, qualities, actions, and measures of time or quantity. 

A noun is a word that names something.

Examples:

• Persons:         student-friend-Neol-Phil-Englishman
• Animals:        cat-dog-rat-rabbit-lion
• Places:           England-home-office-hotel-camp
• Things:          laptop-purse-table-pen-book
• Substances:   wood-air-food-water-diamond
• Qualities:       honesty-kindness-beauty-cleanliness-simplicity
• Actions:         reading-singing-playing-cooking-climbing
• Measures:      year-pound-second-inch-month

Underlined words in the sentences below are nouns.

• Diamond is an expensive metal.  (Diamond is the name of a metal. Metal is the name of a substance)
• The student is wearing his new uniform. (Student is the name given to the person who goes to school. Uniform is the name given to the clothes a student wears.)
• Mango grows in India. (Mango is the name of a fruit. India is the name of a country located in Asia)
• Honesty is the best policy. (Honesty is the name given to a quality. Policy is the guiding principle) Note: Honesty is not an adjective here.  
• Swimming is a good exercise. (Swimming is the name of an action considered as an exercise. Exercise is name of an activity that requires physical exertion) Note: Swimming is not a verb here

Noun is a word used as a name of a person, place, thing, idea, or action.

Around vs. About

Around means encircling; in such a position as to encircle or surround.

About means approximately; nearly.

Do not use around when you mean approximately.

• The chicken weighed around four pounds. (incorrect)
• The chicken weighed about four pounds. (correct)

• She tied a scarf about her neck. (incorrect)
• She tied a scarf around her neck. (correct)

Idiom: Break Bread

Meaning and usage

Normal word order

Word order in a sentence

What to avoid:

1. Never place anything between a verb and its object.

• I sent yesterday all the documents. (Here all the documents is the object of the verb sent)

2. Always put place expressions before time expressions.

Instead of writing

• We went after the lecture to the coffee-shop.

write

• We went to the coffee-shop after the lecture.

In the above sentence coffee shop is the place expression and after the lecture is the time expression.

Beside versus Besides

Beside (without the s) is a preposition that means next to, along side of, at the side of

• "The tree that is beside the running water is fresher and gives more fruit" ~ Saint Teresa
• The little girl was sitting beside her mother.
• A man should stand beside his woman.
• Who is the big girl sitting beside Anne?

Besides (with the s) can act as a preposition or a conjunctive adverb.

Besides means moreover, in addition, also, as well, in any case when it acts as a conjunctive adverb.

• Besides chocolate, you will also need a second flavoring in the ice-cream.
• I don't like those earrings; besides, they're t costly.
• I'm to exhausted to type the report tonight; besides, it's not due until next week.
• He is naive, immature and irritable; besides, he is too young for you.

Besides means except when it acts as a preposition.

• No one besides her mother knew her secret.
• No one besides the trainer could control the dog.
• Nobody besides Sam can deal with her
• No one besides Sam would use such an offending tone.

Idioms:

Beside oneself: very surprised; greatly agitated; in a state of extreme, uncontrolled emotion

• He was beside himself with anger.

Beside the point: not relevant or important

• Your idea is beside the point.

most vs. most of the

Should you write most students or most of the students?

Well, it depends on whether you are referring the word students to group of real students or students in general.

See here: most students vs. most of the students

1. Use of the after words such as all, much, most, some, a few, a little, and many when followed by a concrete noun.

• Most of the students on the classroom were new.

In the above sentence the phrase in the classroom makes the noun students real and concrete.

• Most of the work that our mentor assigns is interesting.

In the sentence above the clause that our mentor assigns makes the noun work real and concrete.

2. Don't use of the when the noun is generic.

• Most people like Indian food. Here the writer means people in general, not a real, concrete group of people.

• Most household chores are boring. Here the household chores, in general, are boring.

3. Never use of without the or another modifier in quantity expressions.

• Most of the workers are absent today.
• All of their documents were missing.

Concrete Nouns and Generic Nouns

A generic noun is a symbol for whole group of people, places, or things in general. It represents any and all members of a group.

• A dog is a loyal companion implies any dog is a loyal companion.
• Dogs are loyal companions imply all dogs are loyal companions.

• Do you like tea?

In the above sentence the word tea is a generic noun. It is a symbol for tea in general. It doesn't refers to real tea that you can drink, smell or taste.

A concrete noun refers to a real and concrete person, place, or thing.

• The tea is strong implies the tea that I am drinking right now is strong.
• You look exhausted. Would you like some tea? In this sentence the tea is the real tea that you would like to drink.

Base form of Verb

The base form of the verb is the form of verb in which the verb appears in the dictionary i.e. it is free from agreement, tense, or participle endings. 

The base form of verb is used after:

1. The subjunctive mood. 

• The deal requires that industrialists join the union.

2. The modal auxiliary                                                                                                                        

• I can speak Mandarin.

3. The infinitive marker to                                                                                                                        

• It is time to go.

4. After verbs of seeing or hearing                                                                                                    

• We watched them play Cricket.

Coordinating Conjunctions

A coordinating conjunction joins two or more grammatically equal structures.

The seven coordinating conjunctions are remembered as "A.B. Fonsy" : and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet.

• Bad weather set in, so we left.
• The federal government could raise taxes, or it could reduce expenditures.

Joining Independent Clauses

The independent clauses (IC) of a compound sentence must generally be joined in one of the following 3 ways:

1. IC ; IC
2. IC , conjunction IC
3. IC ; conjunctive adverb (placement optional), IC

In general

1. Use a semicolon alone when the clauses are short comparatively and relation between them is obvious.

• Self-denial is not a virtue; it is only the effect of prudence on rascality.

2. Use a coordinating conjunction ( and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet) when you want to indicate the relation clearly.

• The firefighters fought hard, yet they could not save the building.

3. Use a conjunctive adverb when it can show the relation more precisely than a conjunction does.

• Alice supplemented her class instruction with weekly visits to a tutor; thus her writing steadily improved.

Noun Phrase

A noun phrase is a group of words that does the work of a noun. A noun phrase is either a pronoun or any group of words that can be replaced by a pronoun.

'they', 'bicycles', and 'the bicycles' are noun phrases, but 'bicycle' is just a noun, as you can see in the sentences below.

• Q: Do you like bicycles?
• A: Yes, I like them.

• Q: Do you like the bicycles over there?
• A: Yes, they are nice.

• Q: Do you like the bicycle I bought last week?
• A: Yes, I like it. (Note: 'It' refers to 'the bicycle', not 'bicycle')

Noun Premodifiers - Modifiers before the noun are called premodifiers. (modify means to limit, restrict, characterize, or otherwise focus meaning). All of the premodifiers that are present and the noun together form a noun phrase.

Noun Post-Modifiers - Modifiers coming after a noun are called post-modifiers.

Structures of Noun phrases

1. NOUN PHRASE: premodifiers + noun                                                                     

• White house (white is a pre-modifier and house is a noun)                                                 
• The three old Democratic legislators (the three old Democratic is pre-modifier and legislators is a noun)    

2. NOUN PHRASE: noun + post-modifiers 

(The most common post-modifiers are prepositional phrases).

• The glass on the table. (on the table is the post-modifier)
• The boy in the store. (in the store is the post-modifier)

3. NOUN PHRASE: pre-modifier + noun + post-modifier. 

The noun together with all pre and post-modifiers constitutes a single unit, a noun phrase that indicates the complete reference.

• The boys on top of the house. (The is the pre-modifier, boys is the noun, on top of the house is the post-modifier)

What is a Phrase ?

Phrase is a group of words, which makes sense, but not complete sense, is called a Phrase. It is a group of related words without a Subject and a Verb.
or
A Phrase consists of two or more words lacking a complete sense and a complete verb. It may consist of one or more incomplete verbs - the Infinitives or the Participles standing on their own.

Words/group of words in italics are phrases in examples below:

• The sun rises in the east.
• Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
• She wore a hat with blue trimming.
• The accident on the bridge was not serious.
• The girl with red hair is an artist.
• Sasha took a long leave.
• Holding the toy, the child slept.

Identify phrases in the sentence below:

• Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature.

For answer to above, click: What is a Phrase?

What is a Clause ?

Clause: A group of Subject - Predicate construction is called a Clause. 
OR 
A Subject and a Predicate form a clause. 
OR 
Such a group of words which forms part of a sentence, and contains a Subject and a Predicate, is called a clause.

• He has a chain which is made of gold. (which - subject; is made of gold - predicate).
• I think that you have made a mistake. (you - subject; have made a mistake - predicate).

Independent Clause: can stand alone or makes a coomplete sense in itself.

• Ram writes stories. (Ram - subject; writes stories - predicate)

Note: A simple sentence has just one clause, called an independent clause.

Dependent Clause or Subordinate Clause: The dependent clause cannot stand alone as a short but complete sentence.

• When Ram writes stories, he observes other people closely. (Ram - subject; when writes stories - predicate). The word when signals that additional words are needed to complete its meaning.

Links:
What is a clause?
Subject and Predicate