Some points in grammar

Dear Dr English,

I am not sure whether the words (in bold) I use in the following sentences are correct.
1. The media supplier will come to present their (or his/her, but here the gender is not known) stuff/sales kit/proposal (which is correct?) tomorrow morning.
2. The ad spending in August 2005 was (or is?) 15 per cent higher than the same period last year.
3. Following are the comparisons of media spending by month, laid out as the top 10 rankings by company and brand.
4. My people are going to bring my letter to you this afternoon. (But I want to refer to one man who works for me only.)

Thank you so much.
Rangsan P.

Let me explain them using the same numbering as you did.
1. ÒTheirÓ stands for the people working for and/or representing a company, so it is correct to use ÒtheirÓ. But ÒstuffÓ is informal and should be replaced with ÒwaresÓ.

2. ÒWasÓ is correct, since you are talking about a definite time in the past (August), which requires simple past tense.

3. ÒAreÓ is correct, because you have more than one item that follows.
However, you have a shortened form at the end in Ò. . . and by brandÓ, which would actually be Ò. . . and top-10 rankings by brandÓ. You are absolutely correct that you may shorten it as you did, only then, the last two items appear as one combined. That means you have only two proper items in your list, which then requires another ÒandÓ to separate the last two items of the list. You would then have:
ÒFollowing are the comparisons of media spending by month, and the top-10 rankings by company and by brand.Ó However, should you want to make the point that the two top-10 rankings are separate rankings, you would actually repeat the complete phrase as in:
ÒFollowing are the comparisons of media spending by month, the top-10 rankings by company, and the top-10 rankings by brand.Ó (Notice the comma before ÒandÓ, to show clearly that this is a separate item on the list.

4. ÒOne of my staff is going to . . .Ó would be the most appropriate phrase in this context. ÒPeopleÓ is indeed used sometimes, but the word does have a different meaning according to the dictionary and its use here wouldnÕt be quite correct.

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