Plural/Singular company

[nq:1]I've noticed another difference between US and UK english, not read it discussed here. For a proper company name, say ... that matter) say 'Motorola are introducing a new phone..' Are company names treated as a plural noun in the UK?[/nq]
Much more often than in the USA, certainly. The same applies to other collective subjects.

Odysseus

[nq:1]I've noticed another difference between US and UK english, not read it discussed here. For a proper company name, say ... that matter) say 'Motorola are introducing a new phone..' Are company names treated as a plural noun in the UK?[/nq]
Generally speaking, yes. The option is there in BrEng to treat any collective government, sports teams, companies as a plural, and they're treated that

[nq:1]On 08 Jan 2006, joetaxpayer wrote[/nq]
[nq:2]I've noticed another difference between US and UK english, not ... company names treated as a plural noun in the UK?[/nq]
[nq:1]Generally speaking, yes. The option is there in BrEng to treat any collective government, sports teams, companies as ... of individuals. That said, both "Motorola is threatened with a take-over" and "Motorola are

re: UK use of plural verbs with collective nouns
[nq:2](The "rule" if there is one; it's not strictly ... take-over" and "Motorola are threatened..." sound OK to my ear.)[/nq]
[nq:1]Sometime in the last two years I posted an, invented, example in which an entity is treated as both singular and plural in the same sentence. It was something like: The government has not made a decision becaus

[nq:1]Sometime in the last two years I posted an, invented, example in which an entity is treated as both singular and plural in the same sentence. It was something like: The government has not made a decision because they are still discussing the matter.[/nq]
Quite common in the US in real life. "Macy's is selling all their men's suits at a 20 percent discount." You will even see, and hear, t

[nq:1]As I've commented before, what's really weird is the practice of treating team nicknames that are singular in form as grammatical singulars. Hence: "The Lakers are practicing their fast break patterns" but "The Jazz is practicing their (or sometimes "its") fast break patterns."[/nq]
There's nothing weird about that because "Lakers" by virtue of the "s" is an implied plurality, where "The

[nq:1]Much more often than in the USA, certainly. The same applies to other collective subjects. Odysseus[/nq]
I know it's normal for collective subjects like 'the police', but is it still correct to use a plural verb with a subject like 'family' (e.g. My family are moving.)?
Kevin

[nq:1]I know it's normal for collective subjects like 'the police', but is it still correct to use a plural verb with a subject like 'family' (e.g. My family are moving.)?[/nq]
Yes, but (as Harvey mentioned elsewhere in this thread) it can seem out of place where the 'collection' (whether of officers or relatives) acts as a unit in AmE especially. Using the singular leaves no doubt, which I su

[nq:2]Sometime in the last two years I posted an, invented, ... made a decision because they are still discussing the matter.[/nq]
[nq:1]Quite common in the US in real life. "Macy's is selling all their men's suits at a 20 percent discount." ... week," which of course leads one to ask "Who are you, and why is Wal-Mart discounting all your major appliances?"[/nq]
Your Macy's example may be

[nq:1]I've noticed another difference between US and UK english, not read it discussed here. For a proper company name, say ... that matter) say 'Motorola are introducing a new phone..' Are company names treated as a plural noun in the UK?[/nq]
Who cares?
Motorola is ...
United Technologies is ..
GFH