Pluralizing Singulars?

[SiliconJon]

May ask who started this fad and why? Since when do we pluralize single entities and firms? When we refer to Microsoft do we not refer to them in their entirety, as a single firm, a team working as one? What's with so much journalism writing and stating things like "Microsoft are", or "Chrystler have"?! When referring to a firm as a single entity it's in singular form, not plural! If you want to turn that noun into an adjective and add a plural noun afterwards, such as employees or personnel, then you can use a plural verb.

Otherwise, we should just start referring to everything as plural, as are we all not made up of multiple atoms, which are made of up multiple sub atomic particles, which are made of multiple parts yet still....

Thank you, drive through.

[Theophylact]

It's not a fad, it's a difference in usage. Brits tend to use the plural verb for organizations.

Related question: Do you say the "United States are" or "is"?

[vass0922]

I would say the United States is
The people of the United States are

[diode]

We are Borg

[Gomer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SiliconJon

May ask who started this fad and why? Since when do we pluralize single entities and firms? When we refer to Microsoft do we not refer to them in their entirety, as a single firm, a team working as one? What's with so much journalism writing and stating things like "Microsoft are", or "Chrystler have"?! When referring to a firm as a single entity it's in singular form, not plural! If you want to turn that noun into an adjective and add a plural noun afterwards, such as employees or personnel, then you can use a plural verb.

Otherwise, we should just start referring to everything as plural, as are we all not made up of multiple atoms, which are made of up multiple sub atomic particles, which are made of multiple parts yet still....

Thank you, drive through.

Where have journalism written this?


And on a related notes... Whats with, "What's with so much journalism writing and stating" The journalism is doing the writing and stating?

[SiliconJon]

If you weren't a total douche, Gomer, I'd find that hilarious. < lol, there I laughed, at me. I did state that pretty darn poorly in my rush. But you're still an ass, so I only laugh at myself.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vass0922

I would say the United States is
The people of the United States are

Take your pick, as that one's magik

[The Real Bingo]

A lot of people refer to 'him' or 'her' as 'they'. I don't know why that is.

If a thing is an it, it's singular...simple as that. Microsoft is a corporation, and it is an it. Legally, it is one person...thinking it as a collective of people makes one want to say 'they make' or 'they have'...not 'it has'.

[osprey4]

We have this same debate over the word "data" constantly. As far as I'm concerned, data is a plural word and should be accompanied by a plural verb form.

[SiliconJon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Real Bingo

A lot of people refer to 'him' or 'her' as 'they'. I don't know why that is.

If a thing is an it, it's singular...simple as that. Microsoft is a corporation, and it is an it. Legally, it is one person...thinking it as a collective of people makes one want to say 'they make' or 'they have'...not 'it has'.

I use "they" to refer to "person or persons", though people do often use they when thee or one would be a more appropriate genderless subject. Maybe there's something other than thee we could use, though, as people give the strangest looks when that word is used in conversation.

Quote:

Originally Posted by osprey4

We have this same debate over the word "data" constantly. As far as I'm concerned, data is a plural word and should be accompanied by a plural verb form.

[Theophylact]

This is what many knowledgable linguists call "peevology".

For a further discussion of the main point of this thread, though, Geoff Pullum comments this very day:

Quote:

I received this email message this morning:

Dear Student Systems User

There are currently problems with the main database server, affecting NESI, EUCLID, WISARD, STUDMI, etc.

IS are investigating, but we have no timescale for a resolution. Sorry for any inconvenience

Regards

Student, Admissions & Curricula Systems

...[T]he British English plural verb agreement with subjects denoting collectivities is clearly alive and well. IS in the second sentence of the message text is the university's Information Services division, but Information Services is not exactly a plural NP [noun phrase] here. It's a singular NP with plural morphological form, like cornflakes as in Cornflakes is my favorite breakfast. It should be clear semantically that the verb are does not agree syntactically with services: after all, it is not the services that are investigating (they are abstract objects). It is the collectivity consisting of the people working in IS that can be said to be investigating. The noun phrase IS denotes the collectivity as a whole. So the sentence has the same structure as IBM are investigating. Most Americans would write that as IBM is investigating. This contrast in preferences is a minor syntactic dialect difference between UK and US English: British speakers tend to prefer plural agreement with subjects denoting companies, sports teams, departments, committees, governments, and so on, at least when they are being referred to in a way that highlights their collective nature.