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Company name

English translation: Usage is country-specific

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11:52 Sep 12, 2002

English to English translations [Non-PRO]

English term or phrase: Company name

Is it more common to use the singular or the plural form of the verb after a company name? And is usage country-specific UK/US.

Trine A KudoZ activity Questions: 27 (1 open) (1 without valid answers) Answers: 87
Local time: 23:49

English translation:Usage is country-specific

Explanation:
In the UK, the more common usage seems to be the plural used with companies/government/etc. In the USA, only the singular can be used.

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Note added at 2002-09-12 12:04:32 (GMT)
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http://www.uta.fi/FAST/US1/REF/usgbintr.html

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Note added at 2002-09-12 12:05:34 (GMT)
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(U.S.) Finnair has a flight to London today.
(G.B.) Finnair have a flight to London today. (large collective nouns)
(U.S.) England has (...) played well today, even if it lost.
(G.B.) England have played well today, even if they lost.
(G.B.) The Government are acting like themselves again.

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Note added at 2002-09-12 18:21:17 (GMT)
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And that would be *countries\'* in my note above.

Selected response from:

Kimberli Mäkäräinen
Finland
Local time: 00:49

Grading comment

I have, reluctantly, chosen a winner, but this is one of those cases where more than one answer was good. Thanks to both Kimberli and Annette for your helpful answers and to the rest for your comments.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +6

singular, anywhere

SwissTell

5 +2

Usage is country-specific

Kimberli Mäkäräinen

5 +1

Singular

Attila Piróth

5 -1

singular

Anette Herbert

Answers

4 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +6

singular, anywhere

Explanation:
McDonald is a well known company.
IBM does ring a bell.
Ford has a big variety of vehicles.

SwissTell
Local time: 17:49
Native speaker of:

German
PRO pts in pair: 170

4 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

Singular

Explanation:
If the company acts as one entity, eg develops a new product, singular verb should be used.
The whole company were celebrating is also possible, meaning that each person is considered individually - but this kind of usage is much rarer.

Attila Piróth
Local time: 23:49
Native speaker of:

Hungarian
PRO pts in pair: 184

5 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): -1

singular

Explanation:
"Singular Noun, Plural Pronoun
This is hands down the most frequent error in AME manuscripts:
A development team spent enormous energy launching a new product line. They gave up weekends to meet their deadlines.
Team is singular, so the second sentence must be either:

It gave up weekends to meet its deadlines.
Or: Team members gave up weekends to meet their deadlines.
Another frequent error is to follow a company name with a plural pronoun:
Ford announced they would increase the mileage on their SUVs.

A company is singular:

Ford announced it would increase the mileage on its SUVs.

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Note added at 2002-09-12 11:59:34 (GMT)
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AME stands for the Academy of Management Executive

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Note added at 2002-09-12 16:57:02 (GMT)
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Using \"Ford have\" on uk sites on Google gives 1,560 hits as opposed to using \"Ford has\" on UK sites which gives a hit rate of 5, 890! Trying the phrase \"the government have\" vs \"the government has\" on co.uk sites gives a hit rate of 39,900 and 99,600 respectively and the same applies for \"were\" and \"was. I think the results speak for themselves and for Trine - it looks as if you can use both singular and plural form - and you are safe in both countries with the singular form.
I would certainly use it unless as Attila points out - each individual is considered in the company.

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Note added at 2002-09-12 21:55:05 (GMT)
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Trine, I can recommend this site for further grammatical questions
http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutgrammar/plur...
Read what the experts say about the FAQ re
Should I use a singular or a plural verb with collective nouns like \'government\', \'committee\', and \'family\'?

Such nouns are used to refer both to a whole group as a singular entity, and to the members of the group. The context may therefore require flexibility: you might write
The committee has now come to a decision.
but you could hardly use a singular verb in
The committee have now taken their seats.

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Note added at 2002-09-12 22:05:42 (GMT)
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Trine, I can recommend this site for further grammatical questions
http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutgrammar/plur...
Read what the experts say about the FAQ re
Should I use a singular or a plural verb with collective nouns like \'government\', \'committee\', and \'family\'?

Such nouns are used to refer both to a whole group as a singular entity, and to the members of the group. The context may therefore require flexibility: you might write
The committee has now come to a decision.
but you could hardly use a singular verb in
The committee have now taken their seats.

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Note added at 2002-09-12 22:28:38 (GMT)
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Some guidelines are given in \"Practical English Usage\" (M.Swan)
\"Singular words which refer to groups of people (like family,team,government) can often be used as if they were plural, especially in British English
My family have decided to move to Nottingham\" and examples of words which can be used this way are given; The BBC, The Labour Party etc.
\"These words can also be used with singular verbs and pronouns. This happens when we see the group as an impersonal unit. The goverment is made up of senior members....\"

Which by the way, is the more common usage for company names, but sometimes they may refer to a company as a group of people where the plural form then will apply.

HIH

Reference: http://www.aom.pace.edu/ame/Guide%20lines/style_tip.htm

Anette Herbert
Local time: 22:49
Native speaker of:

Swedish

7 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

Usage is country-specific

Kimberli Mäkäräinen
Finland
Local time: 00:49
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in pair: 4

Grading comment

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English translation: Usage is country-specific

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