[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: The Band's name...




Yellow, Re:

> As for singular vs. plural verbs (the Who is/the Who are), I was always
> taught that it was more proper to use singular verbs when the collective
> noun is singular (the committee is voting now). Or, to be less boring,
> the Who IS, but had they not changed their name, it would be the High
> Numbers ARE. :)

Uh, are you sure you weren't pondering too much on what there could be for
lunch during your English classes? :-)  Otherwise you should have known that
`who' is one of the few words that can be both singular and plural?  (Usually
it's not a noun but an interrogative or relative pronoun...)

Example:

   Q:   Who are you?
   
   A1:  I'm the guy who woke up in a Soho doorway...
   A2:  We are the fans who like blood and thunder...
   
Thus both `the who is' and `the who are' should be correct.

My favorite version is `The Who are' and `Who songs'.  If 7-bit ASCII code
contained a male symbol, I would even consider using it instead of the `o'.
But everyone here is free to use his/her own capitalization/grammar rule...
(What did one of the first chapters of the SS handbook say?  Once you rule
their speech, you will soon rule their minds... :-).)

>                                     -Yellow Ledbetter
> one of those dull people who loved English class even more than lunch

Cheers,

Bernd
one of those people who don't know English but nevertheless discuss its grammar