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The question was in an English small test. I'm not a native speaker of English and I would like to improve my English. In this test question, we had to fill in the blanks.

Either:

  1. The Royal family live in "mansions".
  2. The Royal family live in a "mansion".

So the option was to put the word mansion in singular or mansions in plural.

The exersice said fill in the blank, so I asume I had to write sonething irrispect if they live in palaces.

Thanks in advance!

Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_
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Karel
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  • Possible duplicate of My family is or My family are? This is itself a duplicate question. – Weather Vane Feb 08 '19 at 18:11
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    The title and example in body don't match up. Changing mansions vs mansion is separate aspect than whether Royal family is plural or singular? – k1eran Feb 08 '19 at 18:29
  • They live in palaces, don't they? Not all the same one though. – Michael Harvey Feb 08 '19 at 20:45
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    You edited, and changed the intent, again. The title DID NOT match the text. I changed the title to match. – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ Feb 09 '19 at 19:34
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    Can we please send this into perdition where it belongs? After all our wasted efforts, it turns out to be, well...silly. It is the difference between using zero article, or indefinite article before singular and plural nouns....and guys, that's been done to death here. – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ Feb 09 '19 at 22:10
  • @Cascabel I challenge you on two fronts. The most important being: where has this been done before (to death)? I've had a good look, and I can't find a near dupe. Please help! – Araucaria - Him Feb 13 '19 at 00:51
  • Hello, @Araucaria I appreciate greatly your experience and knowledge, and have always found your guidance helpful; however, in this case, I differ. When I spoke of here. I meant both English sites, as at one time there was only one. What some some people call "trivial"...I usually try to be diplomatic and call them "too basic". In this case, the OP was less than forthcoming, and the Q was edited to death to the point where the original intent became unclear. This is supposed to be a site for serious questions about English usage. This question was closed justly for lack of research. – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ Feb 20 '19 at 21:05
  • [cont]...I NEVER vote to close for "migration to ELL", as we have have had so many complaints int the past about "migrating garbage". We spent lot of time trying to clean this up, and still...it is not something we would usually consider to be well-researched or clear. If you think it belongs here, than please edit... @Araucaria I approved the last edit...if you think it belongs here than VTO...I already did. – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ Feb 20 '19 at 21:31
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    @Cascabel It's fine, good even to disagree. My own view is that whether we use mansions or mansion depends exactly on the subtle factors that John L talks about in his answer. In other words the semantics and pragmatics of family bear upon which we'd choose. Also, if this is of interest to a professor of linguistics, then surely it's suitable gor ELL? What do you reckon? – Araucaria - Him Feb 20 '19 at 21:58
  • Hello, @Araucaria, and thank you for your quick reply. The answer John offered was in response to an edited question which was entirely different to the present one.. I had a hand in this pudding, and once approving an edit I tend to follow along in my own OCD manner. If you take a look at the time-line of the edits, you will see that the intent was changed at least twice. If there is some profound distinction here about when to use the different articles before plurals and singular, then I would like to see it. – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ Feb 20 '19 at 22:37

1 Answers1

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This isn't a grammar rule so much as a pragmatic one. It depends on facts about things besides grammar.

  • Fact 1: An individual is said to live in only one place; that's what's expected in our culture.

  • Fact 2: Family is a collective noun -- singular, but referring to a group of people.

  • Fact 3: Families can all live together in one place, or they can live in separate places.

  • Fact 4: Collective nouns may count as singular or plural, depending on dialect, context, and intention. (My favorite example of this fact is the tag question Your family is still in Hungary, aren't they? in which family has singular agreement with is, but plural in the tag aren't they?)

So when you see one family in one place, it's singular agreement with family,
but when you see one family in several places, it's plural agreement with family.

John Lawler
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    John, MaryLou changed the text, but as it turns out the actual question was whether to use mansion, or mansions. It is not even a real question, just some mindless crap a pedantic teacher gave on a quiz. – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ Feb 09 '19 at 19:36
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    +1 Perfectly good question in whichever version (@Cascabel) , and good answer too. – Araucaria - Him Feb 13 '19 at 00:53
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    Thank you Araucaria, I still have a lot to learn since I am not a native speaker of English. I didnt understand the the toutht of ny teacher in this test. Thanks for your understanding John Lawler! – Karel Feb 14 '19 at 13:24