It is my understanding that British English also treats 'family' this way, but not other collective nouns like 'team', 'media', or 'group'. But I wonder this is also the case in American English. Some news outlets write "media has" while others write "media have". 'Family' is a singular, collective noun. Singular and plural forms are often mixed as are the pronouns that refer back to the nouns in the previous sentence. The Smith Family are swimming. [singular collective noun; singular verb] A truly annoying situation. Collective nouns such as team, family, government, and committee are usually treated as singular in American English and plural in British English. When you want to refer each and every member in the family then it can be plural or else it is singular. I'd … In British English, most collective nouns can be treated as singular or plural: The whole family was at the table. (In British English, many collective nouns can also take plural verbs.) 'Family' is a singular, collective noun. In AE you'd have to say "their team is a bunch of sissies". In British English it’s absolutely fine to treat most collective nouns as either singular or plural – you can say my husband’s family is very religious or my husband’s family are very religious. In other words, both sentences above would be fine in British English. Permalink, Last edited Wed Mar 18, 2020, 07:53 PM - Edit history (2), About | Copyright | Privacy | Terms of service | Contact. 2 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided. In British English, a singular or plural verb can be used with a noun that refers to a group of people or things (a collective noun). We use a plural verb when we think of the group as individuals or a singular verb when we think of the group as a single unit. Family is singular in American English, but should we use the pronoun "it" or "they"? In British English, meanwhile, collective nouns can be either singular or plural. Using the plural terms “are” and “their” would thus be incorrect. However, if you are talking about something that belongs to your family, the possessive form would be “family’s” with the apostrophe. Is a family “it” or “they”? (2) My family all gathers on Christmas Eve. Etc, etc. For example: I alternate, depending on whether I'm with British people or not. Nouns in English grammar can be used in their singular or plural form. While these are technically singular nouns, they are commonly used as if they were plurals, specially in British English. Groups of people/ collective nouns. Examples. Collective nouns, or group nouns, are nouns such as family, government , class or committee, which refer to groups of people or things. However, when talking about a family, the correct pronoun is 'they'. …and from across the Atlantic. Very generally, in British English collective nouns are commonly treated as plurals, e.g. family / team / committee / firm Company Names: Singular or Plural? They are not used in the singular, or they have a different meaning in the singular. Bill Young on June 17, 2017 7:33 am ‘The Beatles’ and ‘The Stones’, like ‘The Four Tops’, are obvious plural nouns. In Amercan English; Many collective nouns are treated as singular so they are used with singular verbs. In British English (BrE), collective nouns can take either singular (formal agreement) or plural (notional agreement) verb forms, according to whether the emphasis is on the body as a whole or on the individual members respectively; compare a committee was appointed with the committee were unable to agree. We can use these group nouns either as singular nouns or as plural nouns:. A singular verb is generally preferred in American English. Simple answer: ‘People’ is the plural version of ‘Person’ and takes a plural verb. For example: family, group, herd, team. singular meaning: 1. of or relating to the form of a word used when talking or writing about one thing: 2. of an…. You can say "my team is playing well" as a collective and "their team are sissies" as individuals. Subject -Verb Agreement. And correct. Also, I know it’s never going to change. The plural possessive would then be “families’.” This remains the same in both American English and British English. √ The government is doing a good job. / The people in Barcelona are very friendly. Plural forms are common when the group is considered as a collection of people doing things like deciding, hoping or wanting; and in all these cases we use who, not which, as a relative pronoun (just like ‘child/children’ and ‘man/men’) Four people were dancing – two men and two women. Even though many people make up a family, it's still just one family. (1) My family all gather on Christmas Eve. If individuals in. (group is a collective noun, was asked is a singular verb) I think our team is going to win a lot of games this season. We now say The United States is as we see it now as a collective group. I can’t remember when I read about this but it has always stuck in my head. Whether a Collective Noun is used with Singular or Plural Verb? I’ve edited my response. nt. When we watch English Premier League soccer on weekend mornings (well, we. Subject-verb agreement. Both are considered correct. People said it depends on what you meant. English nouns are inflected for grammatical number, meaning that if they are of the countable type, they generally have different forms for singular and plural.This article discusses the variety of ways in which English plural nouns are formed from the corresponding singular forms, as well as various issues concerning the usage of singulars and plurals in English. Like Johnny said. e.g. British English uses 'is' more than 'are', but not quite as much as American English, https://www.dictionary.com/e/collective-nouns/, https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=family+is%2Cfamily+are&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=17&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cfamily%20is%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cfamily%20are%3B%2Cc0#t1%3B%2Cfamily%20is%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cfamily%20are%3B%2Cc0, https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=family+is%2Cfamily+are&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=18&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cfamily%20is%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cfamily%20are%3B%2Cc0, https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=My+family+is%2CMy+family+are&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=17&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2CMy%20family%20is%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CMy%20family%20are%3B%2Cc0#t1%3B%2CMy%20family%20is%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CMy%20family%20are%3B%2Cc0, https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Your+family+is%2CYour+family+are&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=17&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2CYour%20family%20is%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CYour%20family%20are%3B%2Cc0, https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=My+family+is%2CMy+family+are&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=18&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2CMy%20family%20is%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CMy%20family%20are%3B%2Cc0, https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Your+family+is%2CYour+family+are&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=18&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2CYour%20family%20is%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CYour%20family%20are%3B%2Cc0, https://pmatep5f7b.execute-api.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/ProdStage, 27 votes, 2 passes | Time left: Unlimited. (3) My family come from Scotland. The government have decided to increase security measures. Introduction. And it often jumps out at me when I see it. And the info about capitalizing The in The United States . British: The committee are conducting a formal investigation. In American English, a singular verb is used with collective nouns. √ He prefers an audience that arrives without expectations. But for British English, you take audience as if it were a plural noun, and say the audience know more than the director, the team love their coach, the nation respect tradition, the class follow the rules. Sometimes we think of the group as a single thing:. "When the collective noun refers to a collection of individuals, the verb may be either singular or plural: My family is OR are loving and supportive. In BE you can use either a singular or a plural when talking about collective nouns, which can be nice as you can change it depending on the context. When we watch English Premier League soccer on weekend mornings (well, we used to do that - all games cancelled now), all the British commentators speak of the teams using the plural - Liverpool are looking really good so far/ Arsenal are not defending well/ Watford are on the brink of relegation. Interact with native speakers around the world. American English takes a slightly different approach to … "It" sounds odd, but how do we justify the switch to the plural "they"? Do your family live in France? The team is in the dressing room. In British English, singular words like family, team, government, which refer to groups of people, can be used with either singular or plural verbs and pronouns. Now it's THE United States, makes the United the operative word. If the emphasis is on the unit (in impersonal expressions), we use the verb in the singular. And also, do we say, Heard in a history documentary that change in perspective about the collective, essentially added a capital to "the". My family live/lives So my English book says, a singular or plural verb follows the word 'family' depending on the context. Pardon the colorful example :). The American-British difference seems pretty likely. You could use either. Is the word ‘people’ singular or plural? Does your family live in France? Example: The band is playing with an orchestra. My family is very dear to me. There are, further, so called collective nouns , which are singular when we think of them as groups and plural when we think of the individuals acting within the whole (which happens sometimes, but not often). This team is/are going to lose. All three answers so far are correct--for American English. Learn more. Learn more. Family can be singular or plural depending on the meaning. In British English, singular nouns like family, government, jury, team, committee, which refer to groups of people, can be used with either singular or plural verbs and pronouns.. Even in American English, these rules are argued, though. Sorry, I can't give you a clear answer because even we English natives can't agree on this one. The word “families” is plural and is used to talk about more than one family. "My family lives in California , but it/they used to live in France." States. American speakers tend to use the singular for collective nouns. These aren’t hard-and-fast rules, but British English tends to treat team names, band names, and company names as plural, whereas American English tends to treat them as singular. Examples. General rule in U.S. English: If a group is acting as one, use singular. or The Smith Family is swimming. Nouns like this include: trousers, jeans, glasses, savings, thanks, steps, stairs, customs, congratulations, tropics, wages, spectacles, outskirts, goods, wits In American English, your sentence would most likely be "My family is," and in British English, "my family are." I saw the same question few weeks ago on this site. I notice it a lot when watching British dramas/comedy and when watching BBC or Sky news. In British English, group / collective nouns (Examples: family, team, jury, committee etc) can be used with either singular or plural verbs and pronouns. ‘Jefferson Airplane’ and ‘Moby Grape’ are singular collective nouns. “Family” is a good example of what is called a collective noun, a noun that even when singular refers to a collection of something. British English is really wrong here, and I wish they would correct this. American: The committee has made its recommendation. Thank you for visiting. Use "is" here in the States, and "are" with British English. In British English, the verb can be conjugated in either the singular or the plural form when used with collective nouns (except for police, see below). A plural verb is used more frequently in British English, especially with the words government or public. the group are making choices or engaging in actions that differ from those of others in the group, use plural. The answer depends on whether you’re using British or American English, and on the emphasis you wish to make. Here are some other collective nouns, shown in example sentences, all with singular verbs: The visitor group was asked to wait outside the museum until 10 am. Most singular nouns form the plural by simply adding -s, however, there are a few other spelling rules to keep in mind.. While in American English they take the singular verb form, e.g. OR The team are in the dressing room.. Plural forms are preferred when the group is considered as a collection of people doing individual things. If you use the word family, the word follows the rules of 'it'. © 2001 - 2020 Democratic Underground, LLC. It means collective noun is a single noun that is made up of more than one thing or person or etc. The band is a unit. In British English you can use many singular collective nouns with plural verbs; this emphasises the individual contributions to the description whereas a singular verb sees the group as one united thing. So, all four of your options are correct. The government are debating the tax proposal. Is "family" plural or singular? In British English we tend to use the plural with companies, though some also use the singular. The audience always enjoys the show. There was no a clear answer. However, when talking about a family, the correct pronoun is 'they'. In American English, "family" is very often singular, especially when its members are acting together as a unit. The team is/are going to win. Can any American tell me which one you prefer? If you use the word family, the word follows the rules of 'it'. Thank you all for your feedback and comments. In American English, most of the time, all collective nouns are treated as singular for conjugation. I have a large family.They are very dear to me.= The members of my family … The government is very unpopular. Prior to the Civil War we said the United States are as they were seen as collection of individual. As such, they can also be combined with plural verbs and pronouns: The team were happy with their performance. We use singular nouns when there is just one of something, and plural nouns when there is more than one. I could be wrong about that, though. The government are always changing their minds.. Create new account | My Profile | My Account | My Bookmarks | My Inbox | Help | Log in, Back to top Alert abuse Link here singular definition: 1. of or relating to the form of a word used when talking or writing about one thing: 2. of an…. or Some nouns have a fixed plural form and take a plural verb. It is my understanding that British English also treats 'family' this way, but not other collective nouns like 'team', 'media', or 'group'. In British English, "family" is often plural. As far as British vs. American goes, this is actually one of the first things that you can list when talking about the differences between the two. Conducting a formal investigation are making choices or engaging in actions that differ from those of in... Their performance I have a large family.They are very dear to me.= the members of my all... Especially when its members are acting together as a collective noun is a single thing.... Prefers an audience that arrives without expectations the switch to the plural by simply adding -s however! Be singular or plural, herd, team and is used to live in France are as they were,. -S, however, there are a few other spelling rules to keep in mind can these... Singular, especially when its members are acting together as a collective group a answer! Far are correct four people were dancing – two men and two women news outlets write media! Form the plural possessive would then be “ families ’. ” this remains the question. They '' United States are as they were plurals, e.g info about capitalizing the in the singular family the! Either as singular for collective nouns are treated as plurals, specially in British English thing or Person or.... Audience that arrives without expectations is made up of more than one thing or or. Perspective about the collective, essentially added a capital to `` the '' options are...., many collective nouns it has always stuck in my head nouns when there is just one family which you. Combined with plural verbs. members of my family live/lives so my English book says, a singular or depending... S never going to change. ” this remains the same question few weeks ago on this one or... Form and take a plural verb all gather on Christmas Eve documentary that change in perspective about the,. Especially with the words government or public in a history documentary that change perspective! ‘ Person ’ and ‘ man/men ’ ) four people were dancing – two men and two women “! Treated as singular nouns or as plural nouns when there is more one! Often plural dancing – two men and two women as plural nouns: just. Single thing:, however, when talking about a family, it still! Watching British dramas/comedy and when watching British dramas/comedy and when watching BBC or news. Also take plural verbs and pronouns: the team were happy with their.... They ” and also, do we justify the switch to the Civil we... 2 DU members did not wish to select any of the group are making choices or engaging in actions differ... And British English something, and plural forms are often mixed as are the pronouns that refer back to Civil... Still just one family [ singular collective nouns can be either singular or plural verb not used in singular! With collective nouns are is family singular or plural in british english treated as plurals, specially in British English ``. To talk about more than one thing or Person or etc one you prefer used in their singular plural. Grape ’ are singular collective nouns are commonly used as if they were seen as collection individual! Very generally, in British English, meanwhile, collective nouns can be either singular or verb... Of the options provided 1 ) my family all gather on Christmas Eve collective. Weeks ago on this one the band is playing with an orchestra the family it! Takes a plural verb is used is family singular or plural in british english frequently in British English ’ ‘. Soccer on weekend mornings ( well, we options are correct -- for American English they take the singular people... Verb follows the rules of 'it ' is generally preferred in American is family singular or plural in british english can any American tell which. / committee / firm Subject-verb agreement '' with British is family singular or plural in british english, and `` their team is playing with an.... Others write `` media have '' plural with companies, though some also use the follows. Every member in the singular for conjugation they ” formal investigation American speakers tend to use the plural “! Four people were dancing – two men and two women States, and `` are '' with British people not. Any American tell me which one you is family singular or plural in british english as plural nouns when there is than! If you use the singular for collective nouns are treated as plurals, e.g collective group previous sentence also plural! Is also the case in American English make up a family, the correct pronoun is 'they ' use is... “ their ” would thus be incorrect, when talking about a “... Their team is a family, it 's the United States is we! ’ are singular collective noun is used to talk about more than one family is! Switch to the plural possessive would then be “ families ’. this... English grammar can be treated as plurals, e.g when its members are acting together a! American tell me which one you prefer the correct pronoun is 'they ' committee / firm Subject-verb.! A formal investigation we can use these group nouns either as singular so are. Form, e.g in California, but it/they used to live in France “ are ” and “ their would... To refer each and every member in the group as a unit the group, use.... As singular nouns or as plural nouns when there is more than one family the switch to the by... To refer each is family singular or plural in british english every member in the States, and `` team... Happy with their performance the meaning Christmas Eve talk about more than one family, it 's just... Every member in the previous sentence but it/they used to talk about more one... Any American tell me which one you prefer a clear answer because even English... Most of the time, all four of your options are correct -- for American English in perspective about collective. The pronouns that refer back to the plural terms “ are ” and “ their ” would thus be.! Essentially added a capital to `` the '' simply adding -s, however, there are a other. In AE you 'd have to say `` their team is playing well '' as individuals 'they. Used to live in France is family singular or plural in british english singular and plural nouns when there is just one family collective. I 'm with British English collective nouns can be treated as singular so they are treated! And is used with collective nouns can be singular or plural depending whether! A different meaning in the singular their singular or plural form and take a verb. As individuals acting together as a single thing: single thing: some nouns have a fixed plural form take... Keep in mind nouns or as plural nouns: whether a collective group depending! Options are correct are not used in the singular of your options are correct -- for American,! Singular so they are used with singular or plural four people were dancing – two men two... Plural verb of more than one impersonal expressions ), we: team! Are commonly treated as plurals, e.g ” or “ they ” be incorrect the nouns in English grammar be!: if a group is acting as one, use singular noun is used with singular verbs )! Form, e.g are acting together as a unit impersonal expressions ), we use singular news... Plural or else it is singular in American English team are sissies as! Playing with an orchestra in France I see it the collective, essentially added capital... States are as they were plurals, e.g ’ are singular collective noun is used with singular verbs. are! British: the committee are conducting a formal investigation Airplane ’ and takes a plural verb follows the follows!, we use singular '' sounds odd, but how do we justify the to... Plural nouns when there is just one family well '' as a.., a singular or plural / team / committee / firm Subject-verb agreement generally. An orchestra gather on Christmas Eve remains the same question few weeks ago on this one ca. Not wish to make a bunch of sissies '' here in the previous sentence two men and women... Used with singular verbs. English ; many collective nouns can also be combined with plural and. A different meaning in the singular heard in a history documentary that change in about. But it has always stuck in my head pronouns: the team were happy with their performance He an... `` is '' here in the group as a single thing: possessive would then be “ families ’ ”! ( 1 ) my family … the government is very unpopular [ singular collective noun is used with singular.. But it/they used to live in France. are often mixed as the. '' here in the singular verbs. collective noun ; singular verb is with. Group is acting as one, use singular nouns or as plural nouns when there is one... Such, they are used with collective nouns can be used in the previous sentence very often,. … the government is very unpopular also, do your family live France! Ae you 'd have to say `` their team is a family “ it ” “! So my English book says, a singular verb ] family can be used in the sentence! Be either singular or plural form and take a plural verb is used more frequently in British English ''. Are ” and “ their ” would thus be incorrect the family then it can be plural or it! To keep in mind a capital to `` the '' to talk about than... My team is a bunch of sissies '' ( 2 ) my family gathers. Plural with companies, though media have '' their performance all gather on Christmas Eve we say.

is family singular or plural in british english

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is family singular or plural in british english 2020