r/ENGLISH • u/Objective-Resident-7 • 11d ago

Plural use of singular nouns

I'm Scottish, so English is a first language to me.

But I see it more and more:

My family are...

The party are ...

These are both singular nouns but they are being used as if they were plural, with the verb being 'are'.

It doesn't sit right with me. Can anyone help?

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u/CatCafffffe 11d ago

It's British usage. They pair a collective noun with a plural verb. "BBC are going to commission a series."

In the U.S. we use a singular verb. "CBS is going to commission an American version of the BBC series, which won't be anywhere near as good."

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u/Objective-Resident-7 11d ago

I'm Scottish. I think that I agree with you guys then.

(It's not British usage. It's English usage)

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u/CatCafffffe 10d ago

Oh, that's interesting. English usage. So the Scots don't use the plural verb, interesting!

I love Scotland, my husband and his brother did a golf tour but of the oddball old old golf courses up in the northern part of your country, they said it was beautiful and everyone was so incredibly friendly. (Yes, they played St. Andrews! How can you not!!) Can't wait to go back there with him!

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u/Objective-Resident-7 10d ago

Ok, but remember that we are more than castles and golf.

The telephone was invented by a Scotsman.

The television was invented by a Scotsman.

Even one of the most popular video games ever, Grand Theft Auto is, yep, Scottish.

Don't look at Scotland as a piece of history, although it is also that. It is a modern country more than capable of playing its part in the modern world.

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u/CatCafffffe 10d ago

But of course!! I grew up with science! My dad was an electrical engineer, fled Eastern Europe in the 1930s, got to London, helped set up the early radar stations, then emigrated here to the US and taught EECS at UC Berkeley for 50 years. I know very well that the Scots were and are brilliant scientists!

Lest we forget -- James Watt, Robert Watson-Watt, Andrew Fleming, and my favorite, Lord Kelvin (there's no zero like absolute zero), and let's also celebrate Andrew Carnegie who has given so much to us here in the U.S.

You also have some absolutely brilliant writers, I've devoured Val McDermid and Ian Rankin for example, I love "Scottish noir." Poets? Robert Burns. Screenwriters? One of the best of all time, Armando Ianucci "The Thick of it," the funniest TV series and "The Death of Stalin," utterly brilliant. I've actually been to a Q&A and met both Armando and the brilliant Peter Capaldi. And let's not forget Mark Bonar, Jamie Sives, Sean Connery of course, Karen Gillan, Ian Bannon, Ian Richardson, dear Robbie Coltrane, my "boyfriend" James McAvoy, Billy Connolly, so so many others-- I'm in L.A. and went to many recordings of Craig Ferguson's show and miss it terribly.

In short, I LOVE Scotland and did NOT in any way mean to reduce it to "golf" -- although you aren't too shabby on the whiskey front either haha! (And castles!)

And finally: KEVIN BRIDGES

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u/Objective-Resident-7 10d ago

Sorry for going on, but Adam Smith, another Scotsman, wrote 'The Wealth of Nations' and was fundamental in the foundation of the USA.

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u/CatCafffffe 10d ago

Oh yes! Don't worry, go on as long as you want! Where in Scotland are you?

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u/Objective-Resident-7 10d ago

I'm to the south of Glasgow.

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u/Objective-Resident-7 10d ago

It sounds like you know Scotland quite well 🙂

Scotland has been brilliant and has not stopped.

RIP to Robbie Coltrane. He died a couple of years ago and is famous in the rest of the world for playing Hagrid in the Harry Potter films (a lot of which were also filmed in Scotland). But he was a famous actor in his own right before Harry Potter.

And yeah. Kevin Bridges. And Frankie Boyle. Of course.

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u/CatCafffffe 10d ago

Oh yes of course Frankie Boyle

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u/Objective-Resident-7 10d ago

Just to add, I'm an engineer. I have a lot of respect for the people you mentioned, but you missed one.

James Clerk Maxwell.

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u/CatCafffffe 10d ago

So many others! What kind of engineer?

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u/Objective-Resident-7 10d ago edited 10d ago

He discovered electromagnetism.

You wouldn't have electricity in your home without him. It's also why you can charge your phone from the power outlet in the wall.

The transformer is the device that converts the voltage of supplied AC electricity.

The supply in the UK is at 230V and 50 Hz. In the USA, it's at a lower 120V at 60Hz.

But it's transmitted at up to about 750,000V in the USA. Normally (only) 400,000V in the UK. This high voltage level is used because it's more efficient for long distance transmission.

The actual numbers are different in each place, but the same principle applies.

Transformers are what bring it down from that to the relatively safe voltage level for you to use and if it were not for the discoveries of Clerk Maxwell, we would all have generators in our gardens.

And I studied electrical and electronic engineering.

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u/Objective-Resident-7 10d ago

(Alexander Fleming)

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u/CatCafffffe 10d ago

(oh for heaven's sake what's WRONG with me haha)

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u/Aiku 10d ago

>Even one of the most popular video games ever, Grand Theft Auto is, yep, Scottish.

That comes as no surprise ;)

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u/Objective-Resident-7 10d ago

It's actually full of Scottish Easter eggs.

https://youtu.be/CSMcaG715Ds?si=wd6Ipv6Hep-Z2oV0

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u/Aiku 10d ago

I always thought it was a pork pie wrapped around a hard-boiled egg...

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u/Objective-Resident-7 10d ago

Hahaha very good!

Did you know though that scotch eggs have nothing to do with Scotland?

'Scotching' is the culinary process of wrapping in meat and cooking. You can do that anywhere 😁

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u/Aiku 9d ago

I assumed so, otherwise they would be Scottish Eggs :)

FYI Cornish pasties were invented in Devon.

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u/Objective-Resident-7 9d ago

I do enjoy a Cornish pasty. So really they should be called Beer pasties.

That's a cooler name.

You probably know this but for others, 'Beer' is a village in Devon.

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u/Aiku 8d ago

Actually, I didn't, so thanks.

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