When choosing keywords, I am not sure if I should include plural, positional, various forms of a keyword. Example: gift man, man gift, gift men, gifts men, gift for man, gift for men.. Should I include all of these or is Adwords keyword savvy, recognizing the intent of the keywords?

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If you are using a Broad Matched keyword/phrase AdWords technology will trigger your ads for variations of your word or phrase. So in your example of mens gift: If the phrase is set to Broad Match, which is the default setting, your ad will likely be triggered when someone searches for mens gifts, mens presents, shop for a mens gift, etc.

For the keyword phrases you listed, I suggest utilizingthe Phrase and Exact Match options. These rather general keywords will be very competitive during gift buying seasons. By using these matching options, you will be able to quickly find out what search terms are triggering your ads.

One final recommendation: Segment your ad groups whenever possible. The more closely related your keywords and ads, the better. You may have an ad group that is just Mens Shopping Terms with very specific keywords like: shop for mens gifts, shop for mens gift online, shop for a perfect guys gift, etc. And another group that has terms relating to buying such as: buy a mens gift online, buy the perfect mens gift, etc. This allows your ads to have a very close relationship to your keywords.

Link to AdWords Help Center, Keyword Matching Options Explained: http://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=6100&query=matching+options&topic=&type=f&onClick=