atw: If I were a rich man...

  • From: Ros Byrne <ros.byrne@xxxxxxx>
  • To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Sun, 18 Mar 2012 09:27:59 +1100

My (now aging) mum ensured we always used the subjunctive when appropriate. 

I doubt that I learned about it in school (which I left nearly 50 years ago).  
But there was enough observance of it in public life that it seemed normal then.

Elements of language that we value may need to be better supported in the 
public arena (not just in schools) if they are to survive.  

Has anyone on the list ever contacted the Readers Editor at the SMH or other 
such avenues about lapses?

Ros
__



On 18/03/2012, at 7:36 AM, Chris Newby wrote:

> If I were - blame the fiddler on the roof - "If I were a rich man"
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Lee O'Mahoney
> Sent: Saturday, 17 March 2012 9:48 PM
> To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: atw: Change of collective noun use - why?
> 
> Can someone please explain why collective nouns are increasingly being
> treated as plural rather than singular? And how to stop it? :-)
> 
> People used to say 'The crowd is yelling loudly', 'the team is working
> hard', 'the community is...', 'Telstra is jerking me around', 'Connex has
> advised that trains are running late' ie a group of things was treated as a
> collective noun and had singular verbs.
> 
> Now, most people, even on ABC and BBC radio, say 'The crowd are yelling
> loudly', 'the community are...', 'the team are working hard, 'Telstra are
> still jerking me around', 'Metro have advised that trains are still running
> late'.
> 
> Why the change?
> 
> While I'm at it, what's with using 'If I were' instead of 'If I was...'?
> I've only noticed people doing it recently, but read that 'If I were' is OK
> if it's a hypothetical situation.
> 
> eg This forum thread http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=50929
> 
> If I were controlling the language, I wouldn't want people treating
> collective nouns as plural cos it sounds all wrong. Ha.
> 
> Lee
> 
> 
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  • » atw: If I were a rich man... - Ros Byrne