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Hela Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
Agreement with collective nouns in British and American English
Dear teachers,
Would you please tell me in what circumstances we can use a singular or a plural form of the verb with collective nouns?
In a similar article, I found two different agreements for the same type of sentence. Would you please tell me why?
"The Oklahoma City jury charged with deciding Holtzclaw's fate have not yet reached a decision as of 5:27 p.m. on Wednesday."
and
"Rally co-organizer Candace Liger said she isn’t surprised the jury has not yet reached a decision."
Best regards
Would you please tell me in what circumstances we can use a singular or a plural form of the verb with collective nouns?
In a similar article, I found two different agreements for the same type of sentence. Would you please tell me why?
"The Oklahoma City jury charged with deciding Holtzclaw's fate have not yet reached a decision as of 5:27 p.m. on Wednesday."
and
"Rally co-organizer Candace Liger said she isn’t surprised the jury has not yet reached a decision."
Best regards
Top answer
Hela In a similar article, I found two different agreements for the same type of sentence. Would you please tell me why? It's simply one of the many grammatical differences between American and British English.
- Hela In a similar article, I found two different agreements for the same type of sentence.
- Would you please tell me why?
- It's simply one of the many grammatical differences between American and British English.
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3 Answers
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HelaIn a similar article, I found two different agreements for the same type of sentence. Would you please tell me why?It's simply one of the many grammatical differences between American and British English.
00
Hi
It just is a fact that, where a noun denotes a group of people, in the UK we tend to see that as plural whereas in the US, I understand, they tend to use the singular. Apart from being aware of it, I don't think there's any more to say. I hope that neither of us thinks any worse of the other for it! Most of the time, I'd say:
- The jury are not yet decided on a verdict
It just is a fact that, where a noun denotes a group of people, in the UK we tend to see that as plural whereas in the US, I understand, they tend to use the singular. Apart from being aware of it, I don't think there's any more to say. I hope that neither of us thinks any worse of the other for it! Most of the time, I'd say:
- The jury are not yet decided on a verdict
00
That's interesting - perhaps we are all rugged individuals now! I'll have to go away and check that out
Dave :-)
Dave :-)
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