Re: Any iMac rumors?



In article <invalid-AAE4D1.13310607012008@shawnews>,
Ymir <invalid@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Here's an example from The Times [of London]:

"What Apple Computer are not doing using the Apple mark is selling
software, delivery systems, or anything of the like. They are selling
music"

<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2109802,00.html>

Trust me. This is very much standard usage.

PS: The following is taken from Wikipedia

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_differences>

Nouns

Formal and notional agreement

In BrE, collective nouns can take either singular (formal agreement) or
plural (notional agreement) verb forms, according to whether the
emphasis is, respectively, on the body as a whole or on the individual
members; compare a committee was appointed... with the committee were
unable to agree.... Compare also the following lines of Elvis Costello's
song "Oliver's Army": Oliver's Army are on their way / Oliver's Army is
here to stay. Some of these nouns, for example staff, actually combine
with plural verbs most of the time.

In AmE, collective nouns are usually singular in construction: the
committee was unable to agree... AmE however may use plural pronouns in
agreement with collective nouns: the team takes their seats, rather than
the team takes its seats. The rule of thumb is that a group acting as a
unit is considered singular and a group of "individuals acting
separately" is considered plural. However, such a sentence would most
likely be recast as the team members take their seats. Despite
exceptions such as usage in the New York Times, the names of sports
teams are usually treated as plurals even if the form of the name is
singular.

The difference occurs for all nouns of multitude, both general terms
such as team and company and proper nouns (for example, where a place
name is used to refer to a sports team). For instance,

BrE: The Clash are a well-known band;
AmE: The Clash is a well-known band.

BrE: Indianapolis are the champions;
AmE: Indianapolis is the champion.

Proper nouns that are plural in form take a plural verb in both AmE and
BrE; for example, The Beatles are a well-known band; The Colts are the
champions.

André
.



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