Is "staff" singular or plural?

Question

In the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary there is an example for "get by":

We can get by with four computers at the moment, but we'll need a couple more when the new staff arrive.

^{(Emphasis changed.)}

Shouldn't this be "arrives"?

Reading the title, I thought the question was why we don't write "he's", "she's", or "it's" as the possessive pronouns. — David K, Mar 23 '19 at 14:57
BrE has a practice of treating nouns for groups of people (even company or agency names) as plurals grammatically. — chrylis -cautiouslyoptimistic-, Mar 23 '19 at 20:32

score 9 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 23 '19 at 12:04

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In British English staff can be singular or plural. If it is the subject of a verb, this verb is plural.

The staff in this shop are very helpful.

answered Mar 23 '19 at 12:04

Kshitij Singh

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Could you give an example where staff (meaning a number of workers) is singular? – chasly - supports Monica Mar 23 '19 at 12:38
A staff of ten. – Kshitij Singh Mar 23 '19 at 12:49
Hmm... You're right. I'll have to rethink. – chasly - supports Monica Mar 23 '19 at 13:35

chasly - supports Monica · Answer 2 · 2019-03-23T14:01:38.817

8

EDIT

I see from comments and from the answer by @Kshitij Singh that my answer does not cover all cases. I may have to rethink it.

It is a very good question. You can think of staff as an irregular plural.

We can correctly say:

When the sheep arrives we will put it in the paddock.

When the sheep arrive we can put them in the paddock.

This is is because 'sheep' is the plural of 'sheep'.

In the case of "staff", it acts as an irregular plural that has no singular form! The singular is "staff member".

Here you can see the usage in a dictionary:

Meaning of staff in English Contents staff noun UK /stɑːf/ US /stæf/ staff noun (PEOPLE) A2 [ S, + sing/pl verb ] the group of people who work for an organization:

There is a good relationship between staff and pupils at the school.

The staff are not very happy about the latest pay increase.

There are over a hundred staff in the company.

He is on (= a member of) the editorial staff of the magazine.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/staff

Note that if you use 'staff' as a singular noun then you are indicating that it means a long substantial walking stick.

[ C ] formal a long, strong stick held in the hand that is used as a support when walking, as a weapon, or as a symbol of authority

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/staff

edited Mar 23 '19 at 14:01

answered Mar 23 '19 at 12:00

chasly - supports Monica

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I would say that it was a mass noun (except for the 'stick' sense) that behaves as a grammatical plural, but the effect is the same. – SamBC Mar 23 '19 at 12:23
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Lots of US-centric style guides and grammar sites and blogs obstinately maintain that 'staff' is always singular. The issue also affects company names, teams, etc. – Michael Harvey Mar 23 '19 at 12:36
@Michael Harvey - Interesting. So they would say, e.g. "The staff is annoyed by the new regulations." ? – chasly - supports Monica Mar 23 '19 at 12:41
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@chasly - yes, exactly. Americans would say that. – Michael Harvey Mar 23 '19 at 12:46
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@chasly, you should address the OP's confusion by mentioning that staff is singular-only in American English, and may be singular or plural in British English. I am surprised you did not know this. – Michael Harvey Mar 23 '19 at 12:49
I wonder if that relates to transatlantic confusion over whether a corporation or other organisation is singular or plural... – SamBC Mar 23 '19 at 13:32
@Michael Harvey - I've put an edit. – chasly - supports Monica Mar 23 '19 at 14:03
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As an American, “staff” and “team” behave like singular nouns for me, so this is accurate. – Mixolydian Mar 23 '19 at 14:21
Even as an American, if two new individuals are to be added to the existing staff (thereby requiring two more computers), and we referred to them as "the new staff," I would find it hard not to treat that as a plural. Usually the newcomers would be absorbed directly into the existing staff and never form a staff of their own, so it makes no sense to refer to them as "a staff." I would treat "new staff" as an elliptical expression for "new members of the staff." – David K Mar 23 '19 at 14:56
I wonder whether even a British speaker would treat "staff" as a plural in the phrase "on the editorial staff." If so, my response to "he is on the staff" would be, "What, every single one of them?" – David K Mar 23 '19 at 19:42
@David K - For me, "He is on the editorial staff" would be perfectly normal. As you can see in the following dictionary entries, "on the staff" is used, (1) "to serve on the staff" (2) "(of a professional person) employed on the staff of a corporation, publication, institution, or the like" https://www.dictionary.com/browse/staff – chasly - supports Monica Mar 23 '19 at 19:52
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I didn't say there was anything wrong with "he is on the staff." I'm just saying that it would seem odd to me if "staff" were considered a plural noun in that usage. For example, would you write, "The staff are improved now that he is on them"? I would have written "is" and "it". Is that just an American thing? – David K Mar 23 '19 at 19:58
@David K - Oh, I see what you mean. No I wouldn't say that. As I said in my edit, I'm not so certain of my answer any more. I am unable to delete it now that it has been accepted. – chasly - supports Monica Mar 23 '19 at 20:10
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I think you could describe "staff" as having two meanings: 1. a group of people working for a business; and 2. a member thereof. I (American) would use singular (1) in @DavidK's sentence, referring to an impersonal group: "The staff is better now that he is in it." But I can modify it to use plural (2), which refers to the people of the staff: "The staff are happier now that he is among them." Plural (1) could occur in "The staffs of small businesses typically contain ___ to ___ people." You've noted that singular (2) sounds strained and is usually said as "staff member". – HTNW Mar 23 '19 at 20:40
What about "staffer" as a singular noun? – Solomon Ucko Mar 24 '19 at 00:41

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 23 '19 at 17:16

In American English, I think both would be acceptable. Either the sentence is treating "the staff" as one entity, which is fine, or "the staff" as multiple staff members (or "staffers").

It reminds me of how the United States used to be plural until after the American Civil War ("The US are" vs "the US is"). A similar case would be "cast" (theatrical); "The cast is all college students" is acceptable, and "the cast put on the show once a night" is also perfectly fine, for example.

score -1 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 11 '23 at 22:50

The innate sense of language overcomes the ill-defined grammar here, maybe. Staff "is" one group of multiple people. "A staff of 10" was seen as a problem above. But an orange is made of multiple segments ("people"). The natural thinking is one aggregate thing. I'm a bit more conflicted over datum vs data. Sadly, I mark people for "less" when they should say "fewer". Those, a meaningful distinction.

Is "staff" singular or plural?

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