4 ms·

I think the difference in is/are also reflected in the names of sports teams. It sounds normal to say that an American team like Lakers/Patriots/Giants are win

I think the difference in is/are also reflected in the names of sports teams. It sounds normal to say that an American team like Lakers/Patriots/Giants are winning while a British team like Arsenal/United/City is winning.

Plyphon_ 7y ago
I'm not sure, I'd never 'Saints is winning'. 'Saints are winning' sounds correct, though. Even 'Arsenal is winning' sounds a bit wrong. Whos winning? Arsenal are (team) Whos winning? Ronnie O'Sullivan is (singular) Disclosure: I am English.
- 7777fps 7y ago
  Exactly, I think grammatically this would be correct: Arsenal are winning Arsenal is the best team in the league It's contradictory (as well as plainly false ;) ), but that's English.
  - DanBC 7y ago
    Lots of people who speak English as a first language would say "Arsenal are the best team" or "arsenal are the best club". https://twitter.com/search?q=%22arsenal%20are%20the%20best%22&src=typed_query https://twitter.com/search?q=%22arsenal%20are%20the%20best%2...
    - 7777fps 7y ago
      Well yeah, either is fine.
  - Noos 7y ago
    No, this is incorrect. Something that comprises many people is treated as singular unless it's in a plural form. -Arsenal is a team. -We are Arsenal players. -There are many arsenals in Britain, but there is only one Arsenal. If it's unclear you have to add words. You have to make sure the subject is singular. With Arsenal the singular nature of the word doesn't require it. -There are many patriots in the USA, but there is only one Patriots football team. In your example, Arsenal is the singular team. "Arsenal players are winning" is grammatically correct but not really used because players are understood to be part of a team.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
raverbashing 7y ago
Makes sense. Though it seems that maybe the sports teams are (mostly) pluralized in the US? From memory NBA, NFL, MLB use pluralized names but MLS and Indy Car Racing (or whatever it is called now) doesn't?
- KMag 7y ago
  The difference is that most U.S. sports teams names are proper nouns in the plural form (49ers, Raiders, etc.), but most motor sports teams are usually referred to as Team <Singlular Noun>. "Team Quaker State is in the lead." If they were the Quaker States, then it would be "Quaker States are in the lead." I don't follow MLS, but looking at the team names, they mostly look singular to me, apart from "New York Red Bulls". I suspect the Red Bulls are nearly always referred to in the plural by Americans.
- dwighttk 7y ago
  Not all NBA E.g. Jazz, Heat, Thunder
smcl 7y ago
This is in danger of running into the back/forth that we saw in the Angels and Airwaves Wikipedia page :-) Joking aside, it might sound odd to an American (or Canadian?) but British English would not distinguish between whether or not the name or “nickname” are singular or plural. So we would say: The Seahawks are winning Seattle are winning Arsenal are winning Rangers were relegated I think this is the kind of thing where you can learn to tolerate the “wrong” one but it’ll always sound weird to you, whether “wrong” for you is British or US English :-) Edit: I did think of a situation where we’d use “is” - when you’re referring to the legal entity or FULL name of the club. “Aberdeen Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in Aberdeen”. This is pretty rare to see, and you’ll likely just see it in, ironically enough, the first line of a Wikipedia page.
- SAI_Peregrinus 7y ago
  I think the use of "The" as part of the name also matters. "The Patriots are winning" sounds OK to me as an American. "The Patriots is winning" sounds totally wrong. "Arsenal are winning" sounds fine, "Arsenal is winning" also sounds fine.
  - ghaff 7y ago
    When I think of American sports teams there's usually an understood "The" in front. "Patriots are winning" works fine conversationally but, if you were being a bit more formal or writing it down, you'd say "The Patriots are winning." On the other hand, the city name is singular. "Boston is winning."
- nwallin 7y ago
  "The" and the postscripted "s" imply plurality, and therefore the use of "are". Nearly all sports teams in the US are pluralized, so it would be "the Seahawks", "the Bears" etc. There are a small handful of counter exactly examples, such as the Utah Jazz and the Miami Heat. But I think most sports fans use their standard sports lexicon that they use for every other team and treat team names as plurals. Band names tend to be mixed. It's clearly "the Red Hot Chili Peppers are playing at..." but also "Primus is playing at...". (See also the edit war between "The Eagles" and just "Eagles")
zaphirplane 7y ago
Your “are” examples refer to a team ending in S and the “is” examples don’t. perhaps why it sounds right

Plyphon_ 7y ago

I'm not sure, I'd never 'Saints is winning'. 'Saints are winning' sounds correct, though. Even 'Arsenal is winning' sounds a bit wrong. Whos winning? Arsenal are (team) Whos winning? Ronnie O'Sullivan is (singular) Disclosure: I am English.

7777fps 7y ago
Exactly, I think grammatically this would be correct: Arsenal are winning Arsenal is the best team in the league It's contradictory (as well as plainly false ;) ), but that's English.
- DanBC 7y ago
  Lots of people who speak English as a first language would say "Arsenal are the best team" or "arsenal are the best club". https://twitter.com/search?q=%22arsenal%20are%20the%20best%22&src=typed_query https://twitter.com/search?q=%22arsenal%20are%20the%20best%2...
  - 7777fps 7y ago
    Well yeah, either is fine.
- Noos 7y ago
  No, this is incorrect. Something that comprises many people is treated as singular unless it's in a plural form. -Arsenal is a team. -We are Arsenal players. -There are many arsenals in Britain, but there is only one Arsenal. If it's unclear you have to add words. You have to make sure the subject is singular. With Arsenal the singular nature of the word doesn't require it. -There are many patriots in the USA, but there is only one Patriots football team. In your example, Arsenal is the singular team. "Arsenal players are winning" is grammatically correct but not really used because players are understood to be part of a team.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

raverbashing 7y ago

Makes sense. Though it seems that maybe the sports teams are (mostly) pluralized in the US? From memory NBA, NFL, MLB use pluralized names but MLS and Indy Car Racing (or whatever it is called now) doesn't?

KMag 7y ago
The difference is that most U.S. sports teams names are proper nouns in the plural form (49ers, Raiders, etc.), but most motor sports teams are usually referred to as Team <Singlular Noun>. "Team Quaker State is in the lead." If they were the Quaker States, then it would be "Quaker States are in the lead." I don't follow MLS, but looking at the team names, they mostly look singular to me, apart from "New York Red Bulls". I suspect the Red Bulls are nearly always referred to in the plural by Americans.
dwighttk 7y ago
Not all NBA E.g. Jazz, Heat, Thunder

smcl 7y ago

This is in danger of running into the back/forth that we saw in the Angels and Airwaves Wikipedia page :-) Joking aside, it might sound odd to an American (or Canadian?) but British English would not distinguish between whether or not the name or “nickname” are singular or plural. So we would say: The Seahawks are winning Seattle are winning Arsenal are winning Rangers were relegated I think this is the kind of thing where you can learn to tolerate the “wrong” one but it’ll always sound weird to you, whether “wrong” for you is British or US English :-) Edit: I did think of a situation where we’d use “is” - when you’re referring to the legal entity or FULL name of the club. “Aberdeen Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in Aberdeen”. This is pretty rare to see, and you’ll likely just see it in, ironically enough, the first line of a Wikipedia page.

SAI_Peregrinus 7y ago
I think the use of "The" as part of the name also matters. "The Patriots are winning" sounds OK to me as an American. "The Patriots is winning" sounds totally wrong. "Arsenal are winning" sounds fine, "Arsenal is winning" also sounds fine.
- ghaff 7y ago
  When I think of American sports teams there's usually an understood "The" in front. "Patriots are winning" works fine conversationally but, if you were being a bit more formal or writing it down, you'd say "The Patriots are winning." On the other hand, the city name is singular. "Boston is winning."
nwallin 7y ago
"The" and the postscripted "s" imply plurality, and therefore the use of "are". Nearly all sports teams in the US are pluralized, so it would be "the Seahawks", "the Bears" etc. There are a small handful of counter exactly examples, such as the Utah Jazz and the Miami Heat. But I think most sports fans use their standard sports lexicon that they use for every other team and treat team names as plurals. Band names tend to be mixed. It's clearly "the Red Hot Chili Peppers are playing at..." but also "Primus is playing at...". (See also the edit war between "The Eagles" and just "Eagles")

zaphirplane 7y ago

Your “are” examples refer to a team ending in S and the “is” examples don’t. perhaps why it sounds right