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Somewhere on the internet a guy claims that in American English it's proper to use the singular form for conjugating the predicate of group terms such as company, band, team etc. In British English, he claims, it's more common to use the plural form for there.

My question is threefold.

  1. Is it true that it's not the intended meaning that governs numerus?
  2. If so, how profoundly rooted is that difference in the dialects?
  3. If it is, how does one formulate the following in American English?

-- The diversity level amongst the people you've hired must be low?
-- No, our staff is/are actually quite different individuals.

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Konrad Viltersten
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  • I think you need to expand your question to show why the linked question (and its linked questions) do not answer this one. – Andrew Leach Jun 07 '14 at 09:13
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    (0) The use of the term "American English" for a particular usage always seems to me to give the impression (perhaps intentionally) that (a) that's the way everybody does it / has to do it in the US, and (b) you'd better start writing differently (on your plane) half way from London to New York. (1) This certainly has been covered. However, to repeat: Formal v Logical Agreement. (2) Do whatever your paymasters tell you to; otherwise, use your grey cells. Gray cells. (3) I wouldn't. And we have staff in the UK. – Edwin Ashworth Jun 07 '14 at 09:13
  • @AndrewLeach I'll be happy to improve the question but I'm not sure I understand what you'd like me to do. Perhaps it's my English that's an obstacle here. How can one show a non-fact? The question I linked to doesn't answer my wondering because... Well, it just doesn't. Or did I miss your point entirely? If so, my apologies. Please elaborate. – Konrad Viltersten Jun 07 '14 at 09:27
  • Konrad, that guy on the internet is a serious linguist, so I'd take what he said pretty seriously. In the US, staff is a singular collective noun. "With Mr. Cheney poised to become even more influential than Mr. Gore, his staff is reflecting his stature" but "Mr. Bush and his staff are..." Both from the New York Times (which seems to carry some weight in the US.) – anongoodnurse Jun 07 '14 at 09:40
  • @EdwinAshworth I like the relaxation of how one must speak on this or that side of the Atlantic. However, I think (2) has been misunderstood. I live in Stockholm, my paymasters are Norwegian and they give a rodent's sphincter about my English skills. The question is asked out of pure academic curiosity. I'd like which has a stronger influence on the singular/plural choice - the intended meaning or whether it's American or British English. – Konrad Viltersten Jun 07 '14 at 09:42
  • @medica So, just to be explicit: "...his staff is* quite different individuals...*" would be correct? – Konrad Viltersten Jun 07 '14 at 09:44
  • No; His staff is comprised of many different individuals... or His staff is quite varied... The subject and verb is singular. You can't follow that with a plural subject-complement. – anongoodnurse Jun 07 '14 at 09:49
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    (To answer your comment to me...) Well, Kosmonaut's answer, and others there, indicates that generally BrE considers staff to be a collection of individuals, each of whom is important enough to be counted separately; whereas AmE tends to consider staff to be an amorphous mass of Human Resource. Which bit of that does not answer your question? [I work for a US company; my view may be jaundiced.] – Andrew Leach Jun 07 '14 at 09:51
  • @AndrewLeach Now that answers my wondering perfectly. It's either that the formulation in those posts didn't "talk" to me (while yours did very clearly) or I must have missed that. Perhaps it's one of those d'uh days for me... Thanks! – Konrad Viltersten Jun 07 '14 at 09:56
  • ... I'm sure that there must be some nice American companies. And I'm sure that there are some uncaring British ones (I'm using metonymy / synecdoche in the way often referred to as the 'British English' way, as Andrew explains). – Edwin Ashworth Jun 07 '14 at 10:29
  • That other question seems very much focussed on "staff". I don't think it's necessarily true that the "rules" are the same for other words. There's a definite US/UK difference when it comes to sports teams. Here, in The UK we'd say "Arsenal have won the FA Cup" while in the US it'd be "has" which just sounds wrong to our ears. It does depend on context to some extent though, if one is clearly referring to the institution rather than the collection-of-players the singular form is acceptable ("Arsenal is a big club"). – Rupe Jun 07 '14 at 13:15

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