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I have long admired the grammatical teaser posed by the lyric: "Oliver's army is here to stay, Oliver's army are on their way" (Elvis Costello). Which is the correct form for a collective actor: "The government is proposing..." or "The government are proposing..."? Or, and I am hopeful that this is the case, are we allowed some discretion, as per Mr Costello's splendid example?

Edwin Ashworth
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Apprentice Philologist
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  • Your question is too short to make a judgment. Is the government as a singular entity proposing one thing, or a collection of individual representatives proposing a variety of things? Collective nouns generally use singular verbs unless the emphasis is specifically on the individuals that comprise it. – geekahedron May 09 '19 at 13:40
  • Collective nouns generally use singular verbs in the US. Collective nouns do not generally use singular verbs in Britain. – RegDwigнt May 09 '19 at 13:53
  • So, 'Oliver's army is here to stay' follows the US format, while 'Oliver's army are on their way' follows the British format? And yet both sound totally reasonable, even when they appear in adjacent lines of a lyric (hence my admiration). On the same issue, is it the case that 'Manchester City are likely to win the premiership' in a UK sports report, while 'Manchester City is likely to win the premiership' in a US sports report? – Apprentice Philologist May 09 '19 at 14:03
  • RegDwigHt - thanks for the link to previous responses to an equivalent question. I see from those that we are not exactly sure what the rule is, or why. This would explain why the Oliver's Army lyrics do not jar in the listener's ear. Thanks all. Kirk out. – Apprentice Philologist May 09 '19 at 14:12

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