'Is' instead of 'are'

Forums: English, Esl, Grammar
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I heard a sentence something like this:

The public are getting fed up with their government.

Is it possible to say "the public are" instead of "the public is"?

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Type: Question • Score: 6 • Views: 1,035 • Replies: 12

[+3] - McTag - 03/27/2015 It was always thus.

@Nousher Ahmed,

Not really. In this instance, the collective noun is seen and acts as singular.

However if you were to say "groups of the public are getting tired...", then you'd be OK.

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@Nousher Ahmed,

It depends on whether the subject of the sentence is singular or plural . Some words (collective nouns) that involve multiples of an object are regarded as singular, eg flock, fleet . In the case of public, it can be either plural or singular eg The public are angry, The public is angry...

The short answer to your question is ...YES .

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@Nousher Ahmed,

If your usage is for the spoken conversational English language, it would raise eyebrows to say 'public are'. It would be awkward. However, in some publishing circumstances, it is acceptable to use 'public are'. It is the application and usage context that matters.

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@Ragman,

Quote:

If your usage is for the spoken conversational English language, it would raise eyebrows to say 'public are'.

Bit of a biased reply there, with 'public are', using terminology where the noun is usually plural and doesnt have THE in front of it . Now try saying 'THE public are'...just admit to a mistake and move on . I also am a writer .

1 Reply

@Ionus,

Keep an open mind here. Try it with "The Police".

"The Police is looking into this"? I don't think so.

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http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/68204/is-public-plural-or-singular

Quote:

The noun "public" is a mass and a collective noun. Unlike "people", it may take either plural or singular concord depending on the dialect and register and preference of the speaker. For example:

The public are getting restless about the austerity measures.
The public is getting restless about the austerity measures.
...have the same meaning and are both acceptable.

http://www.grammarbook.com/grammar/subjectVerbAgree.asp

Quote:

Rule 9. Some collective nouns, such as family, couple, staff, audience, etc., may take either a singular or a plural verb, depending on their use in the sentence.
Examples:
The staff is in a meeting.
Staff is acting as a unit.
The couple disagree about disciplining their child.
The couple refers to two people who are acting as individuals.

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@Nousher Ahmed,

Saying "the public are" sounds like Britspeak.

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@Ionus,

Quote:

Unlike "people", it may take either plural or singular concord depending on the dialect and register

Depends.
People are getting restless.

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@McTag,

Quote:

People are getting restless.

Yes, people is a plural word . That was in the example .

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@Ionus,

Do you understand the quotation you supplied? You are contradicting it.

1 Reply

@McTag,

Quote:

Do you understand the quotation you supplied? You are contradicting it.

Do you understand the subject of a sentence ?
People are getting angry . The subject is people .
People is a plural word . The subject is word . It can be rewritten as: A plural word is people .

The area is in transition, which is to say people are getting their English Grammar wrong and it is continuing into everyday speech .

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@Ionus,

It was always thus.

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'Is' instead of 'are'

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