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vegetarian: a person who does not eat meat or fish

We can say

I am a doctor

I am a vegetarian

family [countable + singular or plural verb]: a group consisting of one or two parents and their children

All my family enjoy skiing.

In the above definition, "family" is a countable noun & can be followed by a singular or plural verb

But then "family" also has other meaning

family [countable + singular or plural verb, uncountable]: a group consisting of one or two parents, their children and close relations

In the above definition, "family" can be a countable noun (an be followed by a singular or plural verb) or an uncountable noun

Can we say:

My family is vegetarian.

or

My family are vegetarians.

Tom
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1 Answers1

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Yes. You can use the adjective vegetarian:

  • I am vegetarian.
  • My family is vegetarian.

Or you can use the noun vegetarian:

  • I am a vegetarian.
  • My family are vegetarians.

In both cases the noun family is grammatically singular and countable.

However, in terms of meaning, in the second example we think of a family as a group of individuals. This is why it takes the plural verb are.

Araucaria - Not here any more.
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    I would add that using plural verbs for collections is more common in UK English than American English. – Harris Apr 17 '17 at 13:58
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    @HarrisWeinstein Agreed. "My family are vegetarians" hurts my American ears. If I wanted to use the noun, I would probably say "Everyone in my family is a vegetarian" or otherwise rewrite to avoid a plural verb with a singular noun. – thunderblaster Apr 17 '17 at 14:02
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    I'll third that. "My family are..." is basically always wrong to American English speakers. The simplest transformation to make it work would be "My family members are..." – R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE Apr 17 '17 at 14:42
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    @R.. "My family are vegetarians" sounds perfectly reasonable to me, not at all wrong. I suspect it's regional. – barbecue Apr 17 '17 at 15:23