Search results for 'tag:Singular nouns tag:American English' matching tags 'Singular nouns' and 'American English'

TOEIC/ Staff

Lcchang — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 08:58:19 GMT

The airport custodial staff, which (A) hasn't been working under contract for a year, (B) are thinking about (C) striking if management (D) doesn't agree to salary increases.

I think (B) should be corrected to is thinking because in American English "staff" is considered a singular noun.

But, what I would like to ask is about the relative pronoun "which". Do you think if using "who" is much better? Please advise.

LCChang

Re: A TOEIC question

Goodman — Mon, 01 May 2006 16:43:56 GMT

Since you are in TeiPei, it is most likely American English and therefore "staff" is used as singular noun. looked at the red markers. I think "are" should be changed to "is" because of the collective noun modifier " a group of".

My staff has contacted a group of doctors that [is] are involved in research and development efforts that are so greatly needed by children who suffer from the disease.

Re: Difference between American and British English

YoungCalifornian — Sun, 27 Mar 2005 08:57:41 GMT

Uh, no offense but their are a whole lot of misconceptions about American English in this thread. The "fag" thing has already been pointed out, so I'll let that one be.

"The main difference between British English and American English is that in the former there is perfect grammar even in the spoken form. But in the latter, there is no grammar at all and everybody can speak as they like. "

Well I know that Americans are generally less strict about the rules of grammar, but that doesn't mean that there are no rules. In reality, both English variants have pretty much the same grammar rules, Americans are just less formal in their speech. One of the few true differences (not tendencies) that exists between the two is the use of the verb "to be" in regards to collective nouns. For instance, an American would say, "The Austrian ski team is the best I've ever seen," where a Brit would say, "The Austrian ski team are the best I've ever seen." The American views the team as a singular noun, while the Brit views the team as a plural noun.

I've also seen in mentioned frequently (not just here) that in America we say "cab" where the British say "taxi" and "Fall" where the British say "Autumn." This isn't true, at least in regards to American English. In fact, American use both "taxi" and "cab" as well as "Fall" and "Autumn" interchangably. You would be just as likely to hear one as the other.