<strong>Apple and Manchester United are (no ambiguity there ) considered collective nouns, so they can go either way. To me, it a matter of connotation: is Apple a singluar identity or is it a collection if individuals?</strong><hr></blockquote>
I notice a lot of people will refer to Apple as a singular identity - "Apple has released a new version of OS X" in one sentence, then change it in the next - "They've worked really hard on this".
It's maybe grammatically incorrect, but it's not exactly offensive. It's just giving credit to the many people at Apple who put in the work.
The problem with "Manchester United" is that the noun really is Manchester and not Manchester United. United is an adjective. And Manchester is a single place, not a group of people.
Now "the people of Manchester united" on the other hand...
<strong>The problem with "Manchester United" is that the noun really is Manchester and not Manchester United. United is an adjective. And Manchester is a single place, not a group of people.
Now "the people of Manchester united" on the other hand...</strong><hr></blockquote>
Then the issue really lies with the naming convention rather than the grammar used. Here, team names tend to represent groups "The New York Yankees", "The New York Knickerbockers", ...
I think referring to Manchester United as a group is a contraction that's appeared with time. Rather than say "The players of Manchester United were crap last Saturday", it's become "Manchester United were crap last Saturday".
It's hardly the most heinous grammar crime.
My pet grievance in online syntax and semantics is the use of "definate" (a representation of a pronunciation) instead of "definite".
This has annoyed me quite a bit as well. Sure, it's acceptable in the UK, but it doesn't mean it's the only way. When I see someone say something like "Apple have treated their customers like !@#$" it just throws me off. I think less about what the person is actually saying and more about how stupid the person is, at least in my eyes.
Besides, this is a largely American forum, and I see people who aren't even from the UK doing this.
It should be outlawed. <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
Comments
<strong>Apple and Manchester United are (no ambiguity there
I notice a lot of people will refer to Apple as a singular identity - "Apple has released a new version of OS X" in one sentence, then change it in the next - "They've worked really hard on this".
It's maybe grammatically incorrect, but it's not exactly offensive. It's just giving credit to the many people at Apple who put in the work.
Now "the people of Manchester united" on the other hand...
<strong>The problem with "Manchester United" is that the noun really is Manchester and not Manchester United. United is an adjective. And Manchester is a single place, not a group of people.
Now "the people of Manchester united" on the other hand...</strong><hr></blockquote>
Then the issue really lies with the naming convention rather than the grammar used. Here, team names tend to represent groups "The New York Yankees", "The New York Knickerbockers", ...
I think referring to Manchester United as a group is a contraction that's appeared with time. Rather than say "The players of Manchester United were crap last Saturday", it's become "Manchester United were crap last Saturday".
It's hardly the most heinous grammar crime.
My pet grievance in online syntax and semantics is the use of "definate" (a representation of a pronunciation) instead of "definite".
Besides, this is a largely American forum, and I see people who aren't even from the UK doing this.
It should be outlawed. <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
whinny babies!! go outside and get some sun. <hr></blockquote>
Whinny? as in whinny the pooh? I believe it's spelled 'whiny'.
<strong>
Whinny? as in whinny the pooh? I believe it's spelled 'whiny'.
- T.I.
is that 6 z's or 8 ?
<img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />