who / who

Yankee wrote:

Hi YL Why post links to examples of a rare usage that you've managed to find in a Google search -- especially without any comment at all? My own Google search suggests that any usage of the phrase "internet provider who are" is indeed extremely rare.  I got no results at all in the BNC.

Hi Amy

My own Google search suggests that any usage of the phrase "internet provider who are" is indeed extremely rare.  Does 'extremely rare' mean that the usage with a plural verb is wrong?

Honestly, I myself wonder whether the examples provided by me can be considered correct usage. However, I posted them for discussion, not to prove that I'm correct.

Many thanks.

Ms. Birch has been working for the Internet provider which is now involved in a case of leaking customer information.

Lcchang asks: Can I use 'who' instead of 'which' if I view the Internet provider as 'people' ?

I was thinking of the Internet provider as a company. That's why I said it could be written as:

Ms. Birch has been working for the Internet provider who are now involved in a case of leaking customer information. However, I didn't notice that the phrase was the Internet provider.  If 'the' were removed and 'provider' were capitalised, then Internet Provider is a company, and to me "who are" is acceptable.

Ms. Birch has been working for Internet Provider who are now involved in a case of leaking customer information.

A collective noun, particularly in British rather than American English, may be treated as plural, with plural verbs and pronouns. This happens when their members are thought of as a number of individuals: The audience ( = its members ) were all waving their programmes. Chrysler ( = the car people ) have announced a price increase.

We use singular verbs and pronouns when we think of such a group as a single entity: Chrysler is a public corporation; The audience was large.

(The Right Word at the Right Time, edited and designed by The Reader's Digest Association Limited, London)

Hi Amy

I was not challenging anybody when I posted the links without comments. It was because I had an appointment and was in a hurry.

The problem started because I had mistaken "the Internet provider" to mean the name of a company. 

Had I been more careful, I would have changed the phrase to "Internet Provider", name of the company. "The Internet provider" is not the name of a company.

When you said that it was a rare usage, I thought it that it was wrong. That's why I asked you to confirm.

It is now clear that the usage with 'who are' is correct in BrE if it refers to a company, but it is not recommended in AmE as confirmed by the book I quoted from.

As I said before, I'm learning every day from reading all the posts. I would like to mention that I've learned a lot from native speakers, including you.

Once again, I would like to say I was not challenging anybody. But being in a hurry, I posted the links without any comment.