On 1 Dec 2006 07:36:20 -0800, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Vernooy, C.P. - SPLXM) wrote:
> >Well, now you hit a topic on the head, that I, as non-English, never was >able to understand, not get a feel for: >why you say: the police *are* i.s.o. the police *is*... as we do and >lots of other languages. Also: the firebrigade *are*? Why not then: the >population are? > >And even more strange is Elvis Costello's text: >Oliver's army *are* on their way, Oliver's army *is* here to stay. >(Unless this is incorrect Enghlish of course). Another example of group/individual confusion is: "The Broncos are playing the Seahawks", but "The Avalanche is playing the Oilers". Funny thing, people might say "The Avs are playing the Oilers". I wouldn't say "Oliver's army are on their way", nor "the firebrigade are" (I am an American - other English speaking people might be different here). But police is an interesting word that didn't start off as a noun - it doesn't have the normal singular/plural syntaxes. One word that has a modern usage that bothers me is "troop". As in, today 50 troops were killed in a skirmish. They mean 50 soldiers (or maybe mixed soldiers and marines..). While Americans go to school, we don't go to hospital the way the English do. We go to "a hospital" or to "the hospital". Occasionally we will mistake the last letter of an acronym ending with "S" as a plural, which grates on my ears almost as much as "Enter your PIN number to the ATM machine". I haven't yet heard anybody say "CICS are...". But if we are writing user documentation - should we say "PIN Number" irritating some customers, or "PIN", confusing others? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
