0

I could not find a definitive answer to this question.

When using U.S. (or US) in a sentence, would it be more appropriate to say: “The U.S. were founded” or “The U.S. was founded”

I know that the grammatical number of USA is widely accepted as singular, but could not find anything about U.S. (or, by extension, US).

Leidenfrost
  • 1
  • Ask Google – tchrist Jan 17 '18 at 02:00
  • When you [edit], the title should be in its own editable text box. – Lawrence Jan 17 '18 at 02:05
  • Thank you for your input but just because it's more often used does not technically mean it's correct. – Leidenfrost Jan 17 '18 at 02:07
  • I've tried that, but with no avail. Even after changing it, it will still spring back to its previous iteration. Edit: It seems that I had to change more than just one byte. – Leidenfrost Jan 17 '18 at 02:08
  • Founding relates to an entity as a monolithic whole - use singular agreement. – Lawrence Jan 17 '18 at 02:12
  • What are you trying to change in the title? (Note: use the "@name" convention to alert an individual user to your reply. E.g. to ping me, include @Lawrence somewhere in your comment.) – Lawrence Jan 17 '18 at 02:13
  • 1
    I tried to change: “U.S” to “U.S.”. Which now is properly represented. – Leidenfrost Jan 17 '18 at 02:16
  • 2
    "The US was founded....." The U.S. is one country. The United States is one country. If you are talking about individual states, then you might use the plural, as in "the New England states were settled in the 17th century." Or "The only non-contiguous states in the US are Alaska and Hawaii." Or even "The 'United States' aren't so united when their differences are closely examined, but they agree on many broad principles...." – ab2 Jan 17 '18 at 02:27
  • There's no such thing as “technically correct”. You can only look at usage to infer acceptability. – tchrist Jan 17 '18 at 02:49

0 Answers0