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From: gmb@onions.natcorp.ox.ac.uk (Glynis Baguley)
Subject: Re: Singular vs. plural concord with collective nouns
Message-ID: <1995May3.145958.20540@onionsnatcorp.ox.ac.uk>
Originator: gmb@onions.natcorp
Sender: gmb@natcorp.ox.ac.uk (Glynis Baguley)
Organization: British National Corpus, Oxford University, GB
Date: Wed, 3 May 1995 14:59:58 GMT
Lines: 26

In article <D7r9J8.Kxt@spss.com> markrose@spss.com (Mark Rosenfelder) writes:
> In article <1995Apr26.145001@matai.vuw.ac.nz>,
> >[...]
> >With one exception: in highly formal official documents ONLY, British English
> >prefers plural concord with _government_. As you can see, there is a huge
> [snip]
> This usage is by no means limited to "highly formal official documents"
> in Britain.  I found many instances in a British tabloid from 1985, for
> instance on the sports page ("Liverpool are Winners Again") and in ads
> ("Wimpy are..." [I forget the rest of the sentence]).  Some may also 
> remember the slogans offered by the pop group Frankie Goes to Hollywood,
> e.g. "Frankie say Relax, don't do it".  Perhaps a British reader can
> provide more up-to-date information.

My impression as a Brit is that plural verbs with singular corporate
nouns such as `government' are very general, though probably not quite
universal. I think it was probably an INformal development that became
so common it gained respectability, and was formally adopted by such
august bodies as the BBC. This view isn't based on research.


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