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Joined: Dec 2005
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stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 3 |
I read that the sentence, "The Tigers are my favorite team," is grammaticaly correct. I've always thought the proper verb was "is". Does anyone know the rule?
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
We generally go with grammar by form for such matters in the good ole US&A. "The Tigers are …" vs. "Detroit is …" For teams with singular names you would see, e.g., "Cornell is …" and "Big Red is …" In the UK you will frequently see grammar by meaning with such constructions as "Arsenal are …"
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 3
stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 3 |
But it's grammatically correct to say the "the lemon and banana ARE on the table." I don't understand why "team" shouldn't always take the verb 'is'.
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
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formerly known as etaoin...
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
When reading British periodicals, one comes across the following sort of constructions:
"The Ministry are letting contracts ..."
"The Ministry are preparing for ..."
These sounds off to the ears of residents of the USA because we think of a department of government as being a unit, an entity, a single thing and single things take singular verbs. To reach the mindset of Brits, it is necessary to mentally add some words, e.g.:
"(Officials of) the Ministry are letting contracts ..."
"(Members of) the Ministry are preparing for ..."
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
the real answers is: teams (a collective treated as singular noun) should use is.
HOWEVER- some collective nouns are treated as plurals, this is especailly true, (but not exclusively true) if they end in an S.
Finally--there is no way to know which collective nouns are exceptions--they generally are local idioms. (Local being used to define a variety of english, (UK, US, etc))
Dam'd if i can think of an example right now, but others will join in with more examples--hundreds...
and while most will be american (US) english idioms, not all will be. One has already been provided- (Arsenal)
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290 |
When you're listening late at night
You may think the band are not quite right
But they are, they just play it like that.
[Geo. Harrison. Only a Northern Song]
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
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they just play it like that. Rimshot 
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stranger
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stranger
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
As far as I'm concerned, it's "the Tigers is," but it just sounds funny, and people can't be bothered.
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