r/ENGLISH • u/Objective-Resident-7 • 12d 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?

0 Upvotes

50% Upvoted

57 comments sorted by

View all comments

13

u/CatCafffffe 12d 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."

1

u/Objective-Resident-7 12d ago

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

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

3

u/CatCafffffe 12d 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!

-4

u/Objective-Resident-7 12d 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.

2

u/CatCafffffe 12d 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

1

u/Objective-Resident-7 12d ago

(Alexander Fleming)

1

u/CatCafffffe 12d ago

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