Well, I know what some people mean when they say that Americans have
corrupted the English language, and I certainly won't argue that
point. However, the British certainly take their liberties with it
as well. I've noticed on many occasions that the British appear to
be confused about one particular point of grammar:
An American would say: "Triumph has built some beautiful sports cars."
But the British would say: "Triumph have built some beautiful sports cars."
Of course, Triumph is NOT plural, so the latter grammar is incorrect.
Triumph is a SINGLE company, so the correct past-tense form of the
verb is 'has built,' not 'have built.' And yet whenever I've heard
someone from Britain say something similar, they always say it
incorrectly, as if the company's name is plural. I understand that
the company is made of up many PEOPLE, but in the example the word
TRIUMPH is used, not 'the people of Triumph.'
You could correctly say "The PEOPLE of Triumph have built some
beautiful sports cars." But it I'd love to know how it is correct to
say "Triumph HAVE built some beautiful sports cars."
--
Pete Chadwell
1973 TR6
/// triumphs@autox.team.net mailing list
/// To unsubscribe send a plain text message to majordomo@autox.team.net
/// with nothing in it but
///
/// unsubscribe triumphs
///
/// or try http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool
|