Re: USAGE: THEORY/USAGE: irregular English plurals (was: RE:

And Rosta wrote:
> 1a. My family were arguing with each other.
> 1b. My family was arguing with each other.
Hmm ... both sound weird (especially 1a), I'd say "Everyone in my family
was arguing with each other", or, more likely, just "My family was
arguing".  I don't normally use things like "with each other" for
"argue", if there's no "with" clause, it's assumed to be reciprocative.

> 2a. My family were behaving themselves.
> 2b. My family was behaving themselves.
> 2c. My family was behaving itself.
Well, I don't use a reflexive with "behave", so I'd say "My family was
behaving."  But, 2c would sound acceptable.

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