Re: CHAT: use of "they"

Baba wrote:
> I must admit this throws me a bit. An example was a US Fire-Drill
> poster which said "Make sure all personnel is outside and accounted for".
I'm an American, but that sentence just sounds wrong.  I'd say "all
personnel ARE outside", since "all personnel" has an inherently plural
nature.  On the other hand, if it were "make sure the staff is outside",
that would make sense.

> or the sentences; "Which one of them is a doctor? None of them is."
> In both cases I'd expect "are" not "is".
Even with "which one" you'd use are?  The English used in the
Constitution does that "the United States or any are under their
jurisdiction" - later amendments use the phrasing "the United States or
any area under the jurisdiction thereof", avoiding the whole number
issue altogether!  I've read that it wasn't until the Civil War that we
began saying "the United States *is*", as opposed to "the United States
*are*", the explanation given was that after the Civil War, we viewed
ourselves as a *nation* ("is"), whereas before we viewed ourselves as a
*union* of sovereign states ("are").

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