was or were

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Anonymous

#425079 Sat, 29 Sep 07 10:51 AM

Hey!

Should it be:

'The staff were'

OR

'The staff was'

Thanks

Anonymous

Mister Micawber

#425103 Sat, 29 Sep 07 11:35 AM

Either (and probably both) is possible-- what is the rest of the sentence?

Mister Micawber

Joined on Wed, Aug 4 2004

Yokohama

Veteran Member (21,085)

'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master-- that's all.'

If he were there, or If he was there?
was/were
were
are/were

was or were
Was or Were?
There was / were
were

as it were
was or were?
was or were
was/were

Anonymous

#425106 Sat, 29 Sep 07 11:43 AM

'The staff was uninterested'

It refers to the staff of a bar, of which there are several members.

Anonymous

Mister Micawber

#425121 Sat, 29 Sep 07 01:10 PM

I just wanted to be sure they were not fighting among themselves. When acting as a unit, such collective nouns can be considered either singular or plural-- Americans generally use the singular; Brits the plural.

Mister Micawber

Nouns, Plurals

Anonymous

#425124 Sat, 29 Sep 07 01:12 PM

Thanks!

Anonymous