Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

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539 Glossary for any unfamiliar terms

Appendix: North American English grammar | 887

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CONCORD

536

There is a tendency in spoken AmE to prefer singular verb concord with collective

nouns such as government, team, group, rest, etc., whereas BrE is more flexible in

allowing singular or plural verbs:

By and large 

the government does a good job. 

(AmE preferred form)

A: The government are making a profit.

B: No, the government aren’t. It’s the private enterprise. 

(BrE; allows greater flexibility of use of plural verb)

[talking about American football]

While he was with the team, the 

rest of the team was pretty poor so you

couldn’t really tell if it was just him or the team and I always just assumed

that he was too good for the rest of the team. 

(AmE; BrE likely to prefer the rest of the team were pretty poor …)