their or its and why?

Question

...as the band prepare to play its/their last final preformance of the year.

Muslimah · Accepted Answer

i think it's their because it's denotation for people who are making a band ...

Philip · Answer

Muslimahi think it's their because it's denotation for people who are making a band ...

I also might use 'their'; however, the band can be viewed as a single unit performing together, making some people feel better with 'its'. I think most people would say the band is marching down the street rather than are marching down the street. Really, it's a toss-up in this particular case.

CalifJim · Answer

AmE: ... the band prepares to play its last performance ...
BrE: ... the band prepare to play their last performance ...

You shouldn't have both last and final there. Use one or the other. They mean the same thing.

CJ

Maria (Maggie) · Answer

...as the band prepare to play its/their last final preformance of the year.

In my opinion i would use Its. If you analyze the grammatical structure of the sentence, "the band" would be replaced by "it". i would also think then that prepare should take a final s. So lets say that instead of the band we have this sentence: (of course in a context in which we know that we are talking about the band)

As it prepares to play ITS last final performance of the year. (would you use their ??? in that position...No!! because "their" would be used for the plural (bandS)...and the noun is not about the people who plays on the band...and its not about several bands neither....so i guess that now after reviewing all this...i would definitely use ITS...but i would also add an s in the word "prepare". I hope my explanation was clear...if not let me know and i will try to write it in a different way.

Anonymous · Answer

General Motors are planning a corporate restructure.

General Motors is planning a corporate restructure.

Any thoughts?

Clive · Answer

Hi,
General Motors are planning a corporate restructure.

General Motors is planning a corporate restructure.

Any thoughts? You hear both. I favour the latter. It seems like the classic faceless, monolithic company.

Clive

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousAny thoughts?

is The company is ... (AmE)

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

...as the band prepares to play its final performance of the year
(Use singular pronouns with collective antecedents when the noun is thought of as a single unit.)

CalifJim · Answer

You are free to reply to any question you want, but note that you're replying to a post that is three years old, and the person who asked the question has probably moved on by now.

CJ

Ofbaf · Answer

"...as the band prepare to play its/their last final preformance of the year."
The correct answer is "its" !

Although the meaning of the word band is the same of a group, band is a singular noun, so it has do agree with the respective possessive pronoun "its".

If the sentence were:
"...as the bandS [plural - more than one band] prepare to play..."
than the correct use should be:
"...THEIR last final preformance of the year."
"

their or its and why?

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