BE/AE Agreement

[James A. Landau]

In a message dated 4/3/2003 2:39:16 PM Eastern Standard Time,
sagehen at WESTELCOM.COM writes:

> Perhaps the instances where formerly the collective nouns representing
> companies, governments, &c., were thought of as aggregates of individuals,
> they are now seen more as monoliths, represented often by logos or icons
> and so take singular verb forms.  On the other hand, sports teams retain a
> strong sense of comprising individual athletes, often stars, so the plural
> verbs still seem appropriate.
> A. Murie
> (caution: do not attempt to parse that 1st sentence.)

insert "but" before "they are now seen" and insert a comma after "icons"

                   - Jim Landau (who, after reviewing the spec document for a
new software package, will cheerfully trade grammar for clarity)