When we talk about a lot of animals we use they or it? Ex: The three goats( want or wants ) to cross the bridge.
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These three goats, they want the same things that three humans want. – Davo Nov 03 '17 at 10:58
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https://ell.stackexchange.com/q/13950/ – ColleenV Nov 03 '17 at 11:02
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it is always singular; they is always plural. But it doesn't matter whether you're talking about animals or humans or objects or anything: plural is always they. – stangdon Nov 03 '17 at 11:30
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For a group of anything you need to use the term for "they" unless you are treating the group as a single item. For example:
The pens need new lids
We use need because we have multiple pens, which is clear from the plural in pens.
However, when looking at groups we have two options:
The family want a new car
Is correct because the family is a group of people and therefore is plural. But it is also correct to say:
The family wants a new car
Because the family can also be seen as one individual group, and the item itself is not pluralised. For example if we then changed it to families we would need to revert back to "want".
miggly
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