Post #1351279
2026-03-30 11:38 UTC
@Starfia
Correct for US, but not for UK.
In UK and most other dialects, it depends on whether you are thinking of the group as a whole, or a the sum of its parts.
The committee has unanimously decided....
The committee were divided...
#language #usage
Replies (1)
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@Starfia@mastodon.social 2026-03-30 23:50
@hayesstw – Right, thanks for the input. ^ ^ With respect to the group, I think I meant to deal specifically with cases where the subject is the proper noun that is the name of an organization. (With common nouns: I know intuitively that UK English would use "the company was founded…", not "the company were founded…". But that feels like it's determined by simple grammar, not by the question of which sense of "the company" is being invoked, doesn't it?)