zog741 wrote:
(I was off the Internet for a couple of days. I could still have responded on my tablet, but that is a pain for anything but a simple, short message.)
Actually, I have read about this particular difference between British and American English before, but this
link explains it too, in the section called "Formal and notional agreement" under Nouns.
-- RWM
Okay, I'll buy it, I read the whole God damn thing, but you could have saved me a lot of time by just quoting this from it:
"Nouns
[edit] Formal and notional agreement
In BrE, collective nouns can take either singular (formal agreement) or plural (notional agreement) verb forms, according to whether the emphasis is on the body as a whole or on the individual members respectively; compare a committee was appointed with the committee were unable to agree.[12][13] The term the Government always takes a plural verb in British civil service convention, perhaps to emphasize the principle of cabinet collective responsibility.[14] Compare also the following lines of Elvis Costello's song "Oliver's Army": Oliver's Army are on their way / Oliver's Army is here to stay. Some of these nouns, for example staff,[15] actually combine with plural verbs most of the time.
In AmE, collective nouns are almost always singular in construction: the committee was unable to agree. However, when a speaker wishes to emphasize that the individuals are acting separately, a plural pronoun may be employed with a singular or plural verb: the team takes their seats or the team take their seats, rather than the team takes its seats. However, such a sentence would most likely be recast as the team members take their seats.[16] Despite exceptions such as usage in The New York Times, the names of sports teams are usually treated as plurals even if the form of the name is singular.[17]
The difference occurs for all nouns of multitude, both general terms such as team and company and proper nouns (for example where a place name is used to refer to a sports team). For instance,
BrE: The Clash are a well-known band; AmE: The Clash is a well-known band.
BrE: Spain are the champions; AmE: Spain is the champion.
Proper nouns that are plural in form take a plural verb in both AmE and BrE; for example, The Beatles are a well-known band; The Saints are the champions, with one major exception: largely for historical reasons, in American English, the United States is is almost universal. This is due to an increase in national unity and pride after the American Civil War; before this, the construction "the United States are" was more common.[citation needed]
Australian and Canadian usage is consistent with the AmE pattern."I completely disagree with the Brits on this. I know they started the language, but perhaps they should listen to grammarians in the United States, who might have a better idea.
p.s. Shouldn't all of this have been posted on "The Enlish Language" thread...? A place where our English language
are normally discussed...?
(Obviously the English language is made up of many words, so I guess a plural verb is the way to go.)
p.p.s. Wouldn't it make you want to scream, if you heard somebody say, "Our football team are good."