> > >In British English I would expect the following: > > > > > >"Yophoto specializes in quality photobooks using state-of-the-art > > >printing presses and an in-house finishing team" > > > > > >but perhaps they are using a different style guide. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Bob and all -- > > iit was the "specialise" without the "s" on the end that got me --
> > also, hyphenation, but the no "s" was what got me. > > > > ann > > > > Ann, > > I don't think there is a hard and fast rule about it. At least, I > can't find any guidance in my Oxford Guide to Style. It seems to > depend on the context. > > Consider these: > > "Yophoto specialize in quality photobooks using state-of-the-art > presses. Our mission is to boldly split infinitives in every book we > print." > > against > > "Yophoto specializes in quality photobooks using state-of-the-art > presses. Its mission is never to split infinitives boldly, but to do > so in a mild-mannered manner." > > and > > "Yophoto specialize in quality photobooks using state-of-the-art > presses. Their mission is bold infinitive-fission at a 100% level, > minimum." > I finally remembered the term 'collective noun', which is a generalisation of the subject we are discussing. Wiki describes the differences between British and American English quite well (and consistently with what I have written, so they must be right): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_noun "In British English, it is generally accepted that collective nouns can take either singular or plural verb forms depending on the context and the metonymic shift that it implies. For example, "the team is in the dressing room" (formal agreement) refers to the team as an ensemble, whilst "the team are fighting among themselves" (notional agreement) refers to the team as individuals. More strikingly, this is also British English practice with names of countries and cities in sports contexts; for example, "Germany have won the competition," "Madrid have lost three consecutive matches," etc. In American English, collective nouns usually take singular verb forms (formal agreement). In cases where a metonymic shift would be otherwise revealed nearby, the whole sentence may be recast to avoid the metonymy. (For example, "the team are fighting among themselves" may become "the team members are fighting among themselves" or "the team is fighting [period]".) See American and British English differences - Formal and notional agreement. A good example of such a metonymic shift in the singular-to-plural direction (designated by the Latin term plurale tantum) is the following sentence: "The team have finished the project." In that sentence, the underlying thought is of the individual members of the team working together to finish the project. Their accomplishment is collective, and the emphasis is not on their individual identities, yet they are at the same time still discrete individuals; the word choice "team have" manages to convey both their collective and discrete identities simultaneously. A good example of such a metonymic shift in the plural-to-singular direction is the following sentence: "Mathematics is my favorite academic subject." The word "mathematics" may have originally been plural in concept, referring to mathematic endeavors, but metonymic shift-that is, the shift in concept from "the endeavors" to "the whole set of endeavors"-produced the usage of "mathematics" as a singular entity taking singular verb forms. (A true mass-noun sense of "mathematics" followed naturally.)" -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
