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Should I use is or are in this sentence? I don't know what the difference is. As I was trying to figure it out, plural and singular came to mind. Is family plural or singular and is that a factor?

  1. Family is very important to me.
  2. Family are very important to.
steppingstones
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  • You'll see numerous similar questions/answers if you type is are in the Search Q&A box – Ronald Sole May 04 '17 at 21:41
  • Family is a countable noun and the singular form (the plural is families) so that's one reason to say is. Can you think of a particular reason to say are? – stangdon May 04 '17 at 22:29
  • This is one of the clearer differences between BrE and AmE. BrE tends to treat collective nouns like plurals and thus use are, and AmE treats them as singular, hence is. – Cantalouping May 04 '17 at 22:41

1 Answers1

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It would depend on what you are trying to say.
In your first example

Family is important to me.

would be understood to mean a family unit/structure has importance.

If you said

The family is going on holiday.

it would be understood to mean they are all going together to the same place, whereas

The family are going on holiday.

may be understood to mean the same or to mean the family is holidaying at the same time, but possibly in different places (not together), further context would be necessary to resolve the ambiguity.

However, your sentence

Family are important to me.

would not exactly be incorrect but would be understood to mean that each individual in the family are important.

Peter
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