Talk:population
Latest comment: 12 years ago by DCDuring in topic Collective noun
Collective noun edit
Please show the sense 1 takes a plural verb. I don't know how to do it after these edits. — TAKASUGI Shinji (talk) 13:01, 10 November 2011 (UTC)
- It takes a singular verb: the population of the city is up in arms; the entire population of Pueblo Bonito has vanished. —Stephen (Talk) 13:17, 10 November 2011 (UTC)
- Isn't this called semantic agreement, such as "the class are happy" (instead of is, which is also acceptable, if not more so). --Mglovesfun (talk) 13:31, 10 November 2011 (UTC)
- "The class are happy" is BrE. AmE allows only "the class is happy." But "most of the class are happy," since most can take a plural verb. Also, "a majority of the class are happy". —Stephen (Talk) 14:25, 10 November 2011 (UTC)
- Perhaps we could establish the precedent of including both US and UK English usage examples, appropriately qualified. Otherwise, would could have a pseudo-context tag for "collective noun" that linked to an Appendix or WP article/section that explained the different practices and their distribution. DCDuring TALK 16:08, 10 November 2011 (UTC)
- "The class are happy" is BrE. AmE allows only "the class is happy." But "most of the class are happy," since most can take a plural verb. Also, "a majority of the class are happy". —Stephen (Talk) 14:25, 10 November 2011 (UTC)
- Isn't this called semantic agreement, such as "the class are happy" (instead of is, which is also acceptable, if not more so). --Mglovesfun (talk) 13:31, 10 November 2011 (UTC)