25931
Well-known member
Do you use conventional English ? When the language has a perfectly satisfactory way of expressing a neuter singular why do people need to say "their" ?
Back in the day it was the convention to address a letter to "Dear Sir" if writing to a company, even if the actual recipient / representative you were writing to was female.
Never realised it was grammatically incorrect, for example when I say in relation to Wolverhampton Wanderers Football team, 'they are the best' it sounds right to me, whereas 'It is the best' does not
Not at all, a team is a group of people; hence they or their.Are you perhaps missing my point? I'm referring to people using "they" or "their" when talking of, say, the England cricket team. Strictly, it should be "it" or "its": singular, no gender (even a single-sex team).
I am the first to admin my grammar isn't up to scratch or come to that anywhere near, but I am lost why this posting come under liveaboard forum or are we just got nothing interesting to write about has liveaboard ?
Not at all, a team is a group of people; hence they or their.
Do you use conventional English ? When the language has a perfectly satisfactory way of expressing a neuter singular why do people need to say "their" ?
As oft said, there is no I in team, so no it either.Never realised it was grammatically incorrect, for example when I say in relation to Wolverhampton Wanderers Football team, 'they are the best' it sounds right to me, whereas 'It is the best' does not
Unfortunately notIt's not entirely cut and dried regarding groups of people, but it is along the lines described. When the entity exists in its own right, it is a a singular entity; if it is a group of individuals making up an entity, plural is used.
So:
The Army is fighting a war
The police are investigating a crime
The Metropolitan Police Force is investigating a crime
Wolverhampton are this year's FA Cup winners
Common usage modifies language over a time and it's getting far worse as people are starting to speak as they text. Although my grammar and spelling are far from ideal, I actually complained to the BBC that some of their presenters are not good examples and I turn the radio off rather than have to listen to them. I have no end of problems with Portuguese gender, a glass is male but a glass of beer is female. A boat there is male.
Um copo de cerveja is, in fact, masculine. I agree that English is more logical in relation to boat which like anything else that gives a man a lot of pleasure and is rather expensive should be feminine.
Yeah, sorry about that.Unfortunately not
Although, there is a Me.......As oft said, there is no I in team, so no it either.