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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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This one's for you, Jackie  . It come from the UK-based Plain English Campaign's weekly mini-missive: We've had several e-mails on the 'have vs has' debate (for collective nouns). As so often with linguistic arguments, Bill Bryson provides a common-sense approach in his excellent book Troublesome Words.
"Deciding whether to treat nouns of multitude (words like majority, flock, army, Government, group, crowd) as singulars or plurals is entirely a matter of the sense you intend to convey. Although some authorities have tried to fix rules, such undertakings are almost inevitably wasted effort. On the whole, Americans lean to the singular and Britons to the plural, often in ways that would strike the other as absurd (compare the American 'The couple was married in 1978' with the British 'England are to play Hungary in their first World Cup match.)"Doesn't really solve any problems, but it *does serve to remind me I haven't read this Bryson offering yet.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Collective nouns generally make me crazy in those grey areas. Our family is planning a reunion, for example. Well, family members in various states of the USA are planning different activities for the reunion. So, the family are planning a reunion? Sheesh. The chorus are planning another? The team are planning still another, if the plans are all being planned independently of each other? When in doubt, which is often, I make intentional substitutes: Family members are making plans, as well as club and chorus members. Cowardly, yes, but it works.
The couple is/are getting married (USA v. British)? Coward's take: John and Jewel are getting married. :)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Ack--it's taken me a while to get to this category, too.
Nope, nope, nope--the sense *I intend to convey is that the team IS, the family IS, and so forth. These groups function as a unit...*a* unit, ipso facto: singular.Gee--if I used the right Latin phrase, maybe people will be convinced.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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However, strictly speaking according to prescriptive rules, if the group members are acting independently of each other in various actions, the plural verb is required. I think it sounds horrible using the plural verb, but prescriptivists would say it's required at times, depending upon the sense conveyed. That's why I cheat and use 'team members,' etc., when trying to avoid the plural verb. Apparently to those cross-ponders the plural verb sounds fine, thank you very much.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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On the whole, Americans lean to the singular and Britons to the plural
Nope, nope, nope--the sense *I intend to convey is that the team IS, the family IS, and so forth.
Well, that *is what Bryson is *describing....
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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In reply to:
On the whole, Americans lean to the singular and Britons to the plural
Nope, nope, nope--the sense *I intend to convey is that the team IS, the family IS, and so forth.
Well, that *is what Bryson is *describing....
And very succinctly too. It is interesting how ingrained the respective choices are. If asked, I would automatically say "Arsenal are my favourite team in the Premiership", irregardless of any Latin phrases used to persuade me otherwise. I just can't orientate myself to say it differently.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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If it sounds funny, the hell with it.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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addict
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addict
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If it sounds funny,
But doesn't it depend upon whose ear is listening?
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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If a participle dangles in the forest and there's no one around, does it make any noise?
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