[Lexicog] RE: Noun categorization in English

[Tim Gaved]

The enemy is/are attacking.
England is/are winning 2-0.
The government has/have made its/their decision

 

As another British English speaker my preferences would be different to John’s for the first example, where I feel that I could use either. It would depend on whether I was thinking about the enemy as singular entity (perhaps I am the commander-in-chief) or as multiple entities (I can see several tanks rolling towards me!). I agree though on the other two.

 

These examples were cited in earlier message:

 

American English: 
    The company is announcing a major reorganization.
    SIL is studying languages around the world.

British (and Australian, etc.) English:
    The company are announcing a major reorganisation.
    SIL are studying languages around the world.

 

I wouldn’t agree with the “company are” in this example, I would prefer singular. But I’m happy with the following sentence: (BT = major British telecoms company)

 

BT are going to change all the numbers for the London area.

 

This is definitely what I’d say though not necessarily what I would write! Perhaps here I’m thinking of BT as multiple engineers.

 

Tim Gaved

SIL Senegal

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lexicography/attachments/20060616/c3b70720/attachment.htm>