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Chris_Dixon
Joined: 09 Jan 2008
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 Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 9:35 pm Post subject: Grammar Help |
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My family is going on a picnic (singular)
My family are going on a picnic (plural)
Are both these sentences correct? Why?
My family live in NZ, They are happy (plural they) |
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Chris_Dixon
Joined: 09 Jan 2008
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| Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 9:49 pm Post subject: |
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British English
the band ARE going to play a concert. They ARE going to sing a song (plural plural)
American
The band IS going to play a concert. They ARE going..... (singular, plural) |
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waywardwanderer
Joined: 04 Dec 2005
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| Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 10:13 pm Post subject: Re: Grammar Help |
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| Chris_Dixon wrote: |
| My family is going on a picnic (singular) |
This is American English.
| Chris_Dixon wrote: |
| ]My family are going on a picnic (plural) |
This is common in British English text books.
| Chris_Dixon wrote: |
| ]Are both these sentences correct? Why? |
Yes, because they both fall within accepted grammatical perimeters and are commonly used by large groups of native speakers. |
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kimuchiii
Joined: 02 Dec 2007
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| Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 12:59 am Post subject: Re: Grammar Help |
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| waywardwanderer wrote: |
| Chris_Dixon wrote: |
| My family is going on a picnic (singular) |
This is American English.
| Chris_Dixon wrote: |
| ]My family are going on a picnic (plural) |
This is common in British English text books.
| Chris_Dixon wrote: |
| ]Are both these sentences correct? Why? |
Yes, because they both fall within accepted grammatical perimeters and are commonly used by large groups of native speakers. |
Curious about the second part. Is it considered correct in British English because a family consists of more than one person (usually) and therefore you use "are" and not "is" referring to the people IN the family ? Or is "family" along with group words like "band" an exception? |
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blackjack
Joined: 04 Jan 2006
Location: anyang
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| Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 1:37 am Post subject: Re: Grammar Help |
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| kimuchiii wrote: |
| waywardwanderer wrote: |
| Chris_Dixon wrote: |
| My family is going on a picnic (singular) |
This is American English.
| Chris_Dixon wrote: |
| ]My family are going on a picnic (plural) |
This is common in British English text books.
| Chris_Dixon wrote: |
| ]Are both these sentences correct? Why? |
Yes, because they both fall within accepted grammatical perimeters and are commonly used by large groups of native speakers. |
Curious about the second part. Is it considered correct in British English because a family consists of more than one person (usually) and therefore you use "are" and not "is" referring to the people IN the family ? Or is "family" along with group words like "band" an exception? |
Here is a good explanation
http://www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish-central-grammar-collective-nouns.htm |
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kimuchiii
Joined: 02 Dec 2007
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| Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 2:51 am Post subject: |
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Thanks for that, blackjack!  |
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Chris_Dixon
Joined: 09 Jan 2008
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| Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2009 5:52 am Post subject: |
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Thanks guys....
This was a massive discussion in the teachers room haha...as were only hagwon teachers (eg not professionals) our grammar sometimes lets us down....
I'm from NZ, so its hard just learning American english, i corrected books thinking you cant have singular and plural forms of the subject in a sentence.... |
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