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

John Cowan wrote:


>And Rosta scripsit:
>
>> 1a. My family were arguing with each other.
>> 1b. My family was arguing with each other.
>>
>> 2a. My family were behaving themselves.
>> 2b. My family was behaving themselves.
>> 2c. My family was behaving itself.
>
>All of these make me feel funny, but I have to think about them
>further.  My knee-jerk reaction is that they are ungrammatical
>but acceptable.
For me, the problem is that "family" has two referents:  (1) one's entire
family, parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins who
probably live all over the country; (2) immediate family members, probably
dwelling under one roof

With that in mind, 1a is OK for definition (1), "amongst themselves" sounds
better; 1b is * for either def.  Of course, I'd prefer not to see that "each
other" tacked on; and as someone else suggested, I'd probably rephrase the
whole thing.

2a seems questionable for either def.; 2b is * totally; 2c is OK for both.

I suspect I contradict myself; but then, that's the language as she is
spoke.......:-)