Is or are

[Paul1566]

Who gives a shite........


horse horses
dog dogs
Sheep Sheeps !!!!!

[blackpoolsparks]

Ok, a bit late into the conversation, but thank God I'm here to teach you how to speak proper English or rather American.

[Albannach]

OK. Dependant on context, 'team' can be either plural or singular. I personally prefer singular, as in "Your team's (is) crap!". But I may use the plural now and again

How about explaining why Army, a squad, or team, is always singular?

[Albannach]

It's 'an' hotel. You don't drop the H. It's the same rule as in 'an historic'.

I was exaggerating slightly when I completely dropped the 'h' in my reply; of course it is pronounced, just softer.

[Albannach]

So, do you live in an Ouse, or in a House ??
Does your truck have an Eater or a Heater??

House and heater are not polysyllabic.

[slobodan]

Meat is HUNG

A man is HANGED

peace
cal

I'm hung

Ma brother is Hong

[Calos]

Just to think about something else.

Should a man be hanged or hung?

Meat is HUNG

A man is HANGED

peace
cal

[gwh200]

I hope the snow melts soon, you can all get outside then.

[KERRSURF]

You are missing the point.

FLM has an ef sound, a vowel sound, so is preceded by an, as is any word staring with vowel.

House and heater start with an h sound, not a vowel sound, nor a vowel, so the a is used.

The rule you tried to quote earlier covers all words starting in a vowel or vowel sound.

See above post,not true.

[KERRSURF]

My opinion (based on English 'O' level about 35 years ago!)

Xmas Tree United ARE rubbish - I think a team is a plural.

An hotel - in 'Olde English', the H wasn't pronounced and it was said as otel.

An is used where the verb begins with a vowel (apple, echo, injector, ostrich, uniform etc). I am sure that there are exceptions to this rule, but other than hotel, I can't think of any. (Not sure I agree with the 'historic' example).

If you saw QI on telly a few days ago, apparently the spelling rule 'I before E except after C' has more exceptions than words where it works. Makes it a pretty rubbish 'rule' in my book!

Cheers,
Mark

an uniform? Kinda breaking yer own rules there.

It's 'are' anyway. The so called rules of the English language have baffled many trying to learn it and we should be proud of that.

[yoshie]

So, do you live in an Ouse, or in a House ??
Does your truck have an Eater or a Heater??

You are missing the point.

FLM has an ef sound, a vowel sound, so is preceded by an, as is any word staring with vowel.

House and heater start with an h sound, not a vowel sound, nor a vowel, so the a is used.

The rule you tried to quote earlier covers all words starting in a vowel or vowel sound.

[slobodan]

Just to think about something else.

Should a man be hanged or hung?

Well

[madmanc]

Just to think about something else.

Should a man be hanged or hung?

[flounderbout]

The Australian cricket team is sh!t

The Australian cricket team are sh!t

The Australian cricket team always were sh!t

Don't care what's correct, just enjoyed saying it.

Hear hear...! After all the opportunity doesn't arise all too often...

[flounderbout]

And lest anyone should have the audacity to disagree with me, Swan (Practical English Usage, New Edition, Oxford University Press, 1997) has the following to say on the matter:

"In British English, singular words like family, team, government, which refer to groups of people, can be used with either singular or plural verbs and pronouns.

This team is/are going to lose.

Plural forms are common when the group is considered as a collection of people doing personal things like deciding, hoping or wanting; and in these cases we use who, not which, as a relative pronoun. Singular forms (with which as a relative pronoun) are more common when the group is seen as an impersonal unit. Compare:

My family have decided to move to Nottingham. They think it's a better place to live.
The average British family has 3.6 members. It is smaller and richer than 50 years ago.

The government, who are hoping to ease export restrictions soon, …
The government, which is elected by a simple majority, …

My firm are wonderful. They do all they can for me.
My firm was founded in the 18th century."