In the following sentence, is the verb 'have' appropriate? Is it not supposed to be 'has' ?
The British council, in partnership with Microsoft philanthropies, have designed a course for young entrepreneurs.
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KillingTime
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2Does this answer your question? Are collective nouns always plural, or are certain ones singular? Or The government is proposing or The government are proposing ... – or are we allowed to choose ... ? (closed as a duplicate)? – Edwin Ashworth Jan 29 '22 at 16:09
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This is a common problem that arises with nouns such as family, committee and others. The council is an entity requiring singular verb, but is often seen as a collective followed by the verb in the plural. When folk think of the entity they use the singular (our council is a statutory body); when they think of members of the entity they use the plural (the council are political pawns).
Interestingly, even an authority like the Cambridge dictionary is not prescriptive, and indeed offers examples of both usage:
council noun [ C, + sing/pl verb]
the group of people elected to govern a particular area, town, or city, and organize services for it:
The town/city council is/are responsible for keeping the streets clean.
The local council has/have decided not to allocate funds for the project.
Anton
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