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

On Sat, 25 May 2002 06:52, And Rosta wrote:
> Nik:
> > I can't speak for John, but for me "the team are" is as ungrammatical as
> > "the man are"
>
> And Tom Wier & John Cowan, like good North Americans, concur.
>
> Are any of the following okay?
>
> 1a. My family were arguing with each other.
> 1b. My family was arguing with each other.
That's the way I would speak.

>
> 2a. My family were behaving themselves.
> 2b. My family was behaving themselves.
> 2c. My family was behaving itself.
Again, that's the way I would say it.

>
> --And.
Wesley Parish

--
Mau e ki, "He aha te mea nui?"
You ask, "What is the most important thing?"
Maku e ki, "He tangata, he tangata, he tangata."
I reply, "It is people, it is people, it is people."