split

[Mac User Canada]

Please forgive me, i don't mean to offend anyone but there are some points of English grammar that are driving me quietly insane.

Apple Computer Inc. is a singular entity. Therefore any reference to Apple should be singular.

Apple _is_ this and Apple _does_ that.

Sorry Arn, if you feel this is inappropriate then pull it and let me know. However I think this is a wonderful way we can use this forum to learn from each other.

[homeshire]

Originally posted by Mac User Canada
Please forgive me, i don't mean to offend anyone but there are some points of English grammar that are driving me quietly insane.

Apple Computer Inc. is a singular entity. Therefore any reference to Apple should be singular.

Apple _is_ this and Apple _does_ that.

Sorry Arn, if you feel this is inappropriate then pull it and let me know. However I think this is a wonderful way we can use this forum to learn from each other.

i think them's all brits talking that way.

drives me crazy too --- but i think we drive them crazy when we call collective nouns singular. what the heck.

[mark_wilkins]

Originally posted by homeshire
i think them's all brits talking that way.

Shucks. Y'all need to relax with them Brits.

-- Mark

[rjwill246]

Originally posted by Mac User Canada
Please forgive me, i don't mean to offend anyone but there are some points of English grammar that are driving me quietly insane.

Apple Computer Inc. is a singular entity. Therefore any reference to Apple should be singular.

Apple _is_ this and Apple _does_ that.



Yes, but this is a British C/Wealth thing... not sure why you don't say it too. It seems the Canadians too talk of Apple as 'they.' It's the same as saying the government are... it's wrong but I see it in the British and Ozzie press all the time. It's confusing the entity with its parts.

[sonicsessions]

Originally posted by rjwill246
Yes, but this is a British C/Wealth thing... not sure why you don't say it too. It seems the Canadians too talk of Apple as 'they.' It's the same as saying the government are... it's wrong but I see it in the British and Ozzie press all the time. It's confusing the entity with its parts.

it may be wrong by american standards, but it is proper in "the queen's english"... kind of the same issue with favourite/favorite, etc, and "zed"/"zee"...

but no matter what you say,"H" will never be "haitch"... that's just plain wrong (and many born and bred aussie's told me that when I lived there... even though they said it as well).

[tangaloor]

Originally posted by rjwill246
Yes, but this is a British C/Wealth thing... not sure why you don't say it too. It seems the Canadians too talk of Apple as 'they.' It's the same as saying the government are... it's wrong but I see it in the British and Ozzie press all the time. It's confusing the entity with its parts.

It's not wrong, it's just different. It's a grammatical thing rather than a conceptual one. Whether you refer to a these types of proper nouns as singular or plural is just a convention. Note that the british way also involves referring to musical groups in the plural (as in "erasure are playing at sonar next week"). Not sure what happens if it's one of those music 'groups' that have only one member, though.

there's no confusion going on--to say that is sorta like saying "those german people are all confused. they say the colour of snow is weiss, but actually it's white, not weiss, whatever the hell that colour is. Can't they see properly?"

people are just following a different convention.

[pjhornak]

I can see we are all VERY desparate to fill time until our computers arrive...

[Brother Mugga]

Originally posted by rjwill246
Yes, but this is a British C/Wealth thing... not sure why you don't say it too. It seems the Canadians too talk of Apple as 'they.' It's the same as saying the government are... it's wrong but I see it in the British and Ozzie press all the time. It's confusing the entity with its parts.


Hmmmmmm. I think the main reason we use the plural in the instance mentioned is because, somehow, it just don't seem right saying "The government is a bunch of wankers..."

(Which is, I believe, the correct suffixial form.);)

Cheers

Brother Mugga

[wondermite]

Originally posted by Brother Mugga
Hmmmmmm. I think the main reason we use the plural in the instance mentioned is because, somehow, it just don't seem right saying "The government is a bunch of wankers..."

(Which is, I believe, the correct suffixial form.);)

Cheers

Brother Mugga

"are" is correct. "is", well, is not. "Is" is common usage, though. It's not an american or English thing--it's been commonly misused since the 18th century.