Quote:
Originally Posted by MacEachaidh
It's what I was referring to in my post above, where I said the trend appears to be for the collective to be perceived as meaning the individual members collectively, rather than as a single entity, and is thus given a plural verb. It happens a lot (Microsoft are releasing a new version of Windows, France are blocking the Security Council resolution), and to my ear it's wrong every time.
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This is a difference between British and American English. British English normally treats collective nouns (companies, etc) as plural; American English as singular. Thus in British English you would normally have "Microsoft are releasing a new product", but in American English "Microsoft is releasing a new product".
If you look at "The Financial Times" (a quintessentially British business newspaper) you'll find that companies are always referred to in the plural.