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Why is it that treating collective nouns (e.g. Apple) as plural has a tendency to trigger an irrational negative emotional response for me? What's even weirder
by moosebear847 5y ago
Why is it that treating collective nouns (e.g. Apple) as plural has a tendency to trigger an irrational negative emotional response for me? What's even weirder is that I used to think that made more sense and used it too, until convention in American society changed my thinking to flip to singular.
- mumblemumble 5y agoThe English-language grammar concerning pronouns and subject-verb agreement is something that shows a lot of regional variation. In the variety I grew up speaking, whether you use the singular or plural depends on both the part of speech of the word you're inflecting, and the specific collective noun you're trying to agree with. It's a complicated enough set of conventions that I wouldn't necessarily expect anyone who didn't grow up in the same region as me to be able to follow them precisely. Long story short, it's probably not terribly utilitarian to have strong opinions about the subject when participating in an international forum such as this one.
- moosebear847 5y agoValid point, I will try practicing it with the aim of accepting both variations.