My understanding is that UK English uses a plural verb with, say, "Microsoft
Corporation," e.g., "Microsoft Corporation have announced that..." Perhaps
I'm misinformed. US English uses a singular verb for singular nouns of this
type, but there are times when the plural would certainly be useful, since
there are clearly people involved, and the pronoun used to follow up is
almost invariably "they" since "it" just seems too weird. I really don't
like to see sentences such as "Microsoft Corporation has announced that they
will extend support for Windows 98..." (in this context, I think "it" would
pass, but often it doesn't work).
On a related note, I once called the announcer at our local
listener-supported (and at that time primarily classical) radio station to
challenge his use of a singular verb in reference to I Solisti di Zagreb,
which I maintained should be plural. He thought I was "getting into that
whole British plural thing," but I pointed out that "I Solisti" means "the
soloists," which surely should be treated as plural in the same way that you
would use a plural verb for, say, the Atlanta Braves. He was regarding it as
an ensemble, I as the individual players, as the name implies, but again I
can see that there is room for interpretation there.
--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site:
http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
"Tony Jollans" my forename at my surname dot com wrote in message
...
The act of incorporation is one of uniting, or making one, isn't it?
I would, of course,bow to your greater knowledge but the fact that there
is
disagreement here, amongst educated people, certainly shows that it is not
clear cut, as is perhaps inevitable in a living language.
--
Enjoy,
Tony
"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message
...
Yet a company or corporation is plural? And also the government, I
think?
--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup
so
all may benefit.
"Tony Jollans" my forename at my surname dot com wrote in message
...
I would agree that, in the UK, it should be invites. Invite may well
be
used but that doesn't make it correct. A council is an entity, and
singular.
Technically a council could exist, albeit inertly, without members.
The standard of English has deteriorated in the UK. No-one seems to
care any more 
I care, but what annoys me more is pedantry which leads to
'corrections'
which are no better than the original.
--
Enjoy,
Tony
"Graham Mayor" wrote in message
...
No it wouldn't! - Though common usage makes for sloppy grammar. My
particular pet hate is the use of 'less' when 'fewer' would have
been
correct. The standard of English has deteriorated in the UK. No-one
seems
to
care any more
--
Graham Mayor - Word MVP
My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org
Suzanne S. Barnhill wrote:
Unless you're in the UK, in which case it would be "invite." I
might
incline to "invite," anyway.
"JoAnn Paules [MVP]" wrote in
message
...
1. Wrong newsgroup.
2. invites
--
JoAnn Paules
MVP Microsoft [Publisher]
~~~~~
How to ask a question
http://support.microsoft.com/KB/555375
"chiquitaandsugar"
wrote in message
...
Which is correct for an invitational flyer to employees:
The City Council invite you to the 2006 Annual.........
or
The City Council invites you to the 2006 Annual........