Re: Collective nouns revisited

Subject: Re: Collective nouns revisited
From: Elsa Kapitan-White <kapitan-white -at- SUGAR-LAND -dot- OILFIELD -dot- SLB -dot- COM>
Date: Wed, 18 Jun 1997 10:45:03 -0500

Anita Fite asked:
>My question: is a company name a collective noun? In other words, would it
>be appropriate for speakers of British English to say "IBM are" or
>"Microsoft were?"

Yup -- that's the British style. In "American" english, a company takes a
single verb. The Brits use the plural.

Elsa Kapitan-White <kapitan-white -at- SUGAR-LAND -dot- OILFIELD -dot- SLB -dot- COM>
Schlumberger Oilfield Marketing Services
225 Schlumberger Drive, Sugar Land, TX 77478
(281)285-7563, fax -8545

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