a query

[Annette Karmiloff-Smith]

In British English it is becoming increasingly apparent that semantic
representations can at times override syntactic constraints with
respect to singular nouns denoting groups.
For example, one frequently hears:

	the public are.............
	the government are....
	the country are...........
	the royal family are....

This one hears not only in everyday conversation but also on BBC
radio etc. and in written documents.

Query:  	Is this peculiar to British English or also found in
American English?
	Do other languages use a plural verb with singular noun?  I
am almost certain French,
	Spanish and German never do.
	If this only occurs in English, is it because this language
lacks grammatical gender and
	nominative case?  Or other causes?

Just curious!
Annette


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Professor A.Karmiloff-Smith, FBA, FMedSci, MAE, C.Psychol.
Head, Neurocognitive Development Unit,
Institute of Child Health,
30 Guilford Street,
London WC1N 1EH, U.K.
tel: 0207 905 2754
fax: 0207 242 7717
http://www.ich.ucl.ac.uk/units/ncdu/NDU_homepage.htm
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