eclipse

On 10/21/10 PDT 3:37 AM, Kennedy McEwen wrote:
In article , shiva das
writes
In article ,
Kennedy McEwen wrote:

In article , Bruce
writes
Twibil wrote:
On Oct 20, 4:05 am, bugbear wrote:

Are the Daily Mail paying you or something?

(A) The Daily Mail is only one newspaper. Therefore it's "Is", rather
than "Are".


In British English, the plural is correct as the Daily Mail is treated
as a company of many people. In American English, the singular is
used because the Daily Mail is treated as one corporate entity.

It is urban myth that this is British v's American English. It is just
good and bad English.

Bollox, to borrow a word from across the pond. Far from an Urban Myth it
is elementary linguistics: all languages change all the time, and logic
and language are not necessarily friends.

None of which I disagree with. There are many differences between US and
UK English: most, but not all, of which have arisen for the reasons that
you cite. However those reasons do not change the fact that this
particular issue is, contrary to urban legend, not a differentiation
between current US and UK forms of English, but between good and bad
English; good and bad grammar to be precise. The example of the recent
"Queen's Speech" clearly demonstrates that proper UK English follows
precisely the same rules as those ascribed by urban mythology as unique
to US English. There are plenty of older "Queen's Speeches" on the same
site I linked to that demonstrate this is not a recent change of Her
Majesty's language.

For example, referring to a gaggle of geese, "gaggle" is the collective
noun for a number of geese and addressed as singular whether in US or UK
English: "There is a gaggle at the gate.". "Geese" is plurality of
"goose" and addressed in both US and UK as plural: "The geese are in
their shed"; whilst "goose" is singular and referred to as such:
"Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat.".

That is why HM The Queen refers to "My Government" in the singular
throughout all of her speeches: *it* is a single body; but refers to
"The British people" as plural: "people" is a plurality of persons and
British is merely a subset of that plurality, remaining plural. The same
rules apply whether using correct US or UK English.

Common misuse arises from ambiguities as to whether the subject is a
collective noun or a plurality of singular nouns. eg. "Chelsea is
playing away this weekend" is often used interchangeably with "Chelsea
are playing away this weekend" - depending on whether one considers
"Chelsea" to be the singular team or the plurality of Chelsea players.

"The Daily Mail" is singular, whether in US or UK English, and only the
great unwashed would refer to it as plural.

I trust that you will write to Her Majesty and request that she correct
the Americanisation of her own language that you accuse her, and her
predecessors, of propagating - according to your urban mythology.

A nice treatise, and thank you for it. However, it does not seem out of
place to regard "The Daily Mail" in the same light as "The Chelsea FC"
or just "Chelsea" - ie, singular or plural, depending.

--
john mcwilliams

Please BE SURE to capitalize IMPORTANT WORDS in case you think your
audience is NOT very bright, or you have a limited vocabulary.

In article , John McWilliams
writes
On 10/21/10 PDT 3:37 AM, Kennedy McEwen wrote:

Common misuse arises from ambiguities as to whether the subject is a
collective noun or a plurality of singular nouns. eg. "Chelsea is
playing away this weekend" is often used interchangeably with "Chelsea
are playing away this weekend" - depending on whether one considers
"Chelsea" to be the singular team or the plurality of Chelsea players.

"The Daily Mail" is singular, whether in US or UK English, and only the
great unwashed would refer to it as plural.

I trust that you will write to Her Majesty and request that she correct
the Americanisation of her own language that you accuse her, and her
predecessors, of propagating - according to your urban mythology.

A nice treatise, and thank you for it. However, it does not seem out of
place to regard "The Daily Mail" in the same light as "The Chelsea FC"
or just "Chelsea" - ie, singular or plural, depending.

"The Chelsea FC" is pretty unambiguous and obviously singular, just like
"The Daily Mail". "Chelsea" is ambiguous, depending on what it is a
contraction of.
--
Kennedy
Yes, Socrates himself is particularly missed;
A lovely little thinker, but a bugger when he's ****ed.
Python Philosophers (replace 'nospam' with 'kennedym' when replying)