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On my first visit to London 40 years ago, I saw the sentence “Manchester United rule OK” scrawled on a wall of Piccadilly Circus underground station.
You do not even know your own country's language, I silently told the signwriter. It is Manchester United rules — not rule.
After decades of UK residence, I now know that people in Britain often use a plural verb with a singular noun, as that graffiti writer did.
It is English speakers from elsewhere, and particularly the US, who think single nouns with plural verbs — “the government have decided”, for example — are ungrammatical.
These differences in the English-speaking world came up a few weeks ago when I wrote a column about the passive voice and used the sentence “Brazil were beaten by France”. Objecting to my use of Brazil as a plural, one reader commented: “I think we need another grammar lesson here.”
So this is what the grammar books say about collective nouns such as army, cabinet, group or jury, and the verbs that follow them. Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage says that a collective noun — “a noun that is normally singular in form and denotes a collection or a number of individuals” — can, in British English, be followed by either a plural or singular verb.
The jury, in British English, can retire to consider either its or their verdict.
“By contrast, in American English the choice is much more restricted,” Fowler's says. After a collective noun, the verb is usually singular.
That is not always the case. A 2011 Oxford Dictionaries blog pointed out that Americans sometimes use a plural verb after a collective noun if they want to emphasise the individuals rather than the group: “The New York audience were their usual reserved selves.”
But generally, the difference holds. The UK accepts either singular or plural verbs after collective nouns; the US usually insists on the singular.
Australian and New Zealand English are usually somewhere in between. I have not found any studies on South As to veer more towards the American practice than the British when it comes to singular and plural verbs.
But British practice seems to be changing. Marianne Hufrican English, the variety that I arrived in the UK with all those years ago, but it seemndt, professor of English linguistics at Zurich university, cites a study of British MPs that found 67 per cent used the singular “the government continues to drag its feet” rather than the plural “the government continue to drag their feet” when speaking in the House of Commons, although Hansard — the official transcripts of proceedings — insisted on recording their words using plural verbs.
The MPs' speeches seem to show that here, as elsewhere, British English is following American fashion.
Other studies doubt this. They say British practice has been changing all on its own. One study cited by Prof Hundt showed the use of singular verbs had been increasing in the UK… 剩下见评论区……
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鱼小圣
And because, apart from sport, the Brits use both, no one in the UK will be offended by your use of a singular verb after a collective noun.（6）
鱼小圣
If you are writing a business missive for an international audience, it is probably best to stick to singular verbs after collective nouns. It is what Americans, and the millions of English learners worldwide who are influenced by US English, expect. （5）
鱼小圣
Similarly, entering “Manchester United was” into the database brings up a slew of US news outlets, while “Manchester United were” yields a host of British ones. But for those who are not sport reporters, the lesson appears clear. （4）
鱼小圣
A search of the news databases shows that when Brazil's football team suffers a defeat, as it did against England last week in the under-17 World Cup, British newspapers almost invariably say “Brazil were beaten” while American ones say “Brazil was beaten”.（3）
鱼小圣
The more prevalent use of plural verbs is a relatively recent phenomenon in the UK, Prof Hundt says. But although UK practice seems to be moving towards the American style, there is one area where the divide still appears to hold: sport.（2）