Wow, I gather you have much more newspaper experience than I. I've since given journalism up for longer than Lent, but put in a total of 20 yrs between paper and wire service reporting and editing. Now that I've stated my credentials , my question is this: I stil feel there are times when the plural is appropriate; e.g., "My family are spending Christmas in different places this year." Would you rewrite that to say, for example, "The members of my family are..." ?