[thelist] Site Critique

> -----Original Message-----
> From: thelist-admin@lists.evolt.org
> [mailto:thelist-admin@lists.evolt.org]On Behalf Of Garrett Coakley
> Sent: 13 May 2000 22:45
> To: thelist@lists.evolt.org
> Subject: Re: [thelist] Site Critique
>
>
>
>
> > "Spiked are a web development company ..." and "Spiked were
> > commissioned..."
> > Why the plural?

FWIW...

It's a quirk of most impersonal nouns in English (its so long since I
actively spoke another language that I can't be sure whether or not it
applies in other tongues...). Since "Spiked" can be considered a collective
term for all of the employees at Spiked, it is 'correct' to use it as a
plural.

"Spiked" can also of course be considered as a single entity, and used in
the singular. I believe that people tend to use the former subconsciously
since it is a better representation of the company as a group of people,
rather than a faceless autonomous "blob".

sb