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My class is going to visit the museum.
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My class are going to visit the museum.
#1 is correct in American English. Is #2 also acceptable in British English?
Hi Sitifan,
This isn’t really to do with the variety of English you speak or write but one of interpretation. If you use the plural verb as in: my class are/the government are, you are thinking of the individuals that make up the class/government. If you use the singular verb as in: my class is/the government is, you are thinking of them/it as one entity.
Alan
An American says: ‘“My class are going to visit the museum,” would sound wrong to most speakers of AmE, I believe.’
The following is quoted from a native speaker of British English:
It would also sound wrong to most speakers of BrE. It’s true that BrE
often treats a collective noun as plural, but it can be also treated as
singular, depending on context. The choice between singular and plural
is often used to make a subtle distinction. “The government is …”
means “The government, considered as a single entity, is …”. “The
government are …” refers to the group of people who make up the
government.
Now, there are some situations where that distinction can’t be made.
“The team is expected to win tomorrow” is a meaningful statement. It
refers to the team as an entity in its own right. The alternative, “the
team are expected to win tomorrow”, seems to suggest that most members
of the team will win but perhaps some will not. That makes no sense,
therefore I wouldn’t say it.
Your example, “My class are going to visit the museum”, makes sense only
if you think of the class in terms of the individuals in the class. It
could, just possibly, refer to a situation where each member of the
class is going to visit the museum, as an individual, and probably not
at the same time as other class members. That’s such an unlikely
interpretation that I’d be forced to say that the “are” in that example
is just plain wrong.