3 ms·

Interesting linguistic phenomenon: Commonwealth grammar uses plural verbs for collective nouns -- i.e. English newspaper articles will say "Boeing have decided.

Interesting linguistic phenomenon: Commonwealth grammar uses plural verbs for collective nouns -- i.e. English newspaper articles will say "Boeing have decided.." instead of "Boeing has decided..". Strikes me as subversive in this current environment: language reminding you that a corporation's decisions are made by actual people.

aitchnyu 8y ago
As an Indian, I was surprised at "Collective are..." and believe it arose after the colonial days.
- cjbprime 8y ago
  That's interesting! I wonder when this strong preference for plural verbs appeared in British English.