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Grammar and Linguistics > my family is? or my family are? which one is corretc?
my family is? or my family are? which one is corretc?
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vareste
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my family is? or my family are? which one is corretc?
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Hello everyone,
I just want to ask a question, Some books say � �family � � is singular while others say that it is plural. I can guess one of them is British and the other one is American, but which one is the correct use of it? |
9 Mar 2010
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Nessie33
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My family is .... The members of my family are....
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9 Mar 2010
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vareste
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I saw a question like that:
Her family..................... a lot of prestige in this town.
a)have got
b)has got
c)was
d)had been
So, if we think the word �family � here is a group of members, so what will we do?
In my opinion, the answer is has got. But i cant be sure. |
9 Mar 2010
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nandaagon
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I think it �s is. If instead of my family you had my brother and my sister, for instance, then it would be are. Besides if you had to replace my family by a pronoum it would be a singular one, not a plural one. |
9 Mar 2010
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vareste
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thnx a lot, i actually wonder what the native speakers think about this |
9 Mar 2010
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serene
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Perhaps you �ll find the following useful:
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9 Mar 2010
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lshorton99
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Truthfully, the singular and plural verb form after collective nouns such as family are more or less interchangeably used. As a native speaker, it depends on your meaning. I would say �My family are crazy �, probably because I �m thinking about the individual members. I would say �My family is in England � because I �m speaking more generally. However, there really isn �t a difference.
Hope that helps!
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9 Mar 2010
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vareste
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thanks ishortan99, you mean that it depends on the meaning right? i agree with you but what do you think about my question? have got or has got? |
9 Mar 2010
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lshorton99
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I would say both!
If I was forced to choose I would say has because it is a generalisation but you could equally make a case for saying that (the members of) her family have a lot of prestige...
It �s one of what I call the English language grey areas!
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9 Mar 2010
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vardaki
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Advanced Grammar In Use, Cambridge University Press, 2005: You
can use both the singular and plural forms of verbs with singular nouns
that refer to a group of some kind. You use the singular when
referring to the group as a whole unit and the plural form when the
focus is on the group as a collection of individuals. Generally it
makes little difference which is used and the singular form is more
common.
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9 Mar 2010
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