Thread: What pronoun to use when referring to USA

Originally Posted by charlestonian

Originally Posted by RusskiSlav

There is more than one state, but it is one country, so I'd use "it", i.e. "The US said it will...blahblahblah" not "The US said they will...blahblah"

By the way, you spelled referring wrong

I don't see any errors in "referring"....

It was reffering
I've corrected the title.

Originally Posted by Ramil

Originally Posted by charlestonian

Originally Posted by RusskiSlav

There is more than one state, but it is one country, so I'd use "it", i.e. "The US said it will...blahblahblah" not "The US said they will...blahblah"

By the way, you spelled referring wrong

I don't see any errors in "referring"....

It was reffering
I've corrected the title.

Gotcha.

Originally Posted by charlestonian

You are in a good mood I see... Do you want me to spoil it for you?

:P

Anybody reading this thread? I mean, the correct response has already been given and, it appears, totally ignored, viz. and to wit: BrE uses plurals where AmE uses singulars.
The United States are sending more troops
The United States is sending more troops

The government are/is

Microsoft are/is or even have/has

singular and plural on different sides of the ocean!!

Originally Posted by chaika

Anybody reading this thread? I mean, the correct response has already been given and, it appears, totally ignored, viz. and to wit: BrE uses plurals where AmE uses singulars.
The United States are sending more troops
The United States is sending more troops

The government are/is

Microsoft are/is or even have/has

singular and plural on different sides of the ocean!!

But you forgot my personal favorite:
"Chaika, are you good at maths?" vs. "Chaika, are you good at math?"
Maths just sounds bizarre, like saying "the media are" -- actually, though, you know what? I always thought it was "standard" (as in 95% of the population of the US) English vs. "highly-educated" English. Both are correct, but one seems to have a high-brow connotation behind it -- I never attributed it to an Atlantic divide. Then again, maybe it just goes back to the general American impression of the British accent (and the vocabulary/ grammar that goes along with it) being a prestige accent...