thanks!
thanks!
The staff ain't courteous.
Singular.
Think of other group names:
The army are away?
The team are happy?
The army is away.
The team is happy.
The staff is courteous.
Depends on whether you are British or not. Americans use the singular and Brits use the plural.
Interesting.... wrote:
Singular.
Think of other group names:
The army are away?
The team are happy?
The army is away.
The team is happy.
The staff is courteous.
Yes - I thought singular but 2 others had written it with "are." Just wanted to be certain. Thanks!
Brit? wrote:
Depends on whether you are British or not. Americans use the singular and Brits use the plural.
No they don't, unless they're just being wrong.
Singular is the only correct form.
Depends on how it is used and the meaning in the sentence.
The staff is in a meeting.
Singular when staff is considered as a group
The staff are in disagreement over the policy.
Plural when discussing the individuals
PS
I would say that "is" would be correct since it appears you are talking about all of them.
The answer depends on the context of the sentence.
Provide the sentence if you want further input.
Singular.
From Purdue OWL:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/599/01/
10. Collective nouns are words that imply more than one person but that are considered singular and take a singular verb, such as group, team, committee, class, and family.
The team runs during practice.
The committee decides how to proceed.
The family has a long history.
My family has never been able to agree.
The crew is preparing to dock the ship.
This sentence is referring to the individual efforts of each crew member. The Gregg Reference Manual provides excellent explanations of subject-verb agreement (section 10: 1001).
However, I've had instructors promote the use of a plural verb for a single group of people only (not fish, pencils, etc.) as it avoids "de-individualizing" each member of the group. These are the same instructors who insist we refer to people as "persons," though, so I've always ignored them and haven't had anyone question my usage academically or professionally.
Grinnell? Oberlin?
HC wrote:
However, I've had instructors promote the use of a plural verb for a single group of people only (not fish, pencils, etc.) as it avoids "de-individualizing" each member of the group. These are the same instructors who insist we refer to people as "persons," though, so I've always ignored them and haven't had anyone question my usage academically or professionally.
luv2run wrote:
Depends on how it is used and the meaning in the sentence.
The staff is in a meeting.
Singular when staff is considered as a group
The staff are in disagreement over the policy.
Plural when discussing the individuals
Thanks. You appear to be the most correct.
Engrish wrote:
Brit? wrote:Depends on whether you are British or not. Americans use the singular and Brits use the plural.
No they don't, unless they're just being wrong.
Singular is the only correct form.
Every British sportscaster I've heard uses the plural, but singular is definitely the correct usage in this case.
Hogtown wrote:
Every British sportscaster I've heard uses the plural, but singular is definitely the correct usage in this case.
Just as "color" is the correct spelling and "colour" is incorrect?
British English and American English differ on this grammatical point. Neither one is "correct" (unless you insist, in which case I'd suggest that the folks who invented the language get to define what "correct" is).
Hogtown wrote:
Engrish wrote:No they don't, unless they're just being wrong.
Singular is the only correct form.
Every British sportscaster I've heard uses the plural, but singular is definitely the correct usage in this case.
As usual, the brits are wrong. They just never seem to be able to speak or write English correctly. "Staff" is a collective noun, it refers to one group, and thus is singular.
Also, brits, stop saying "Went to hospital" and "Went to university." The correct usage is, "Went to the hospital," and "Went to the university>"
Also, the brits don't seem to have a plural word for toothbrush, because on the whole rotten teeth island there is only one. And that one is owned by an American.
Reported for racist overtones.
Staff is courteous
Staffs are courteous
Dennis Reynolds 2.0 wrote:
Reported for racist overtones.
The staff be courteous?
Either one is acceptable. Who are you morons?