plural or singular

Guest   Mon Oct 08, 2007 9:11 pm GMT
which is correct, "people who waste their life" or "people who waste their lives" ???
There are about 1500 results in google for 1 and 3000 for 2.

If you search just "their life" you get 2 and a half million results, and "their lives" returns 65 million results

Does this indicate that both are possible or that there are many people who don't know grammar?
Skippy   Mon Oct 08, 2007 9:24 pm GMT
When in a situation like this I'd use the "to be" conjugation because it's irregular enough... For "people" I would conjugate it as "people are," so I'd be comfortable saying "people who waste their lives."
furrykef   Mon Oct 08, 2007 9:52 pm GMT
"People who waste their life" is indeed pretty common, but Skippy's rule shows that it really is inconsistent... people would never say "people who is smart", for instance. But the use of the pronoun "they" does make the issue a little thorny because the word "they" can be used singularly, which is probably where this situation comes from. However, I don't think "singular they" can occur when used with an explicitly plural noun like "people", so it's still a grammatical mistake. It's a much less serious one than saying something like "people who is smart", though.

- Kef
Guest   Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:27 pm GMT
I thought "people" is like "group", singular....

people - group
peoples-groups
Skippy   Mon Oct 08, 2007 11:37 pm GMT
"People" is like "data" or "media" in that it's a plural that doesn't end in 's.' (Although in the US talk radio, tv news, etc. is referred to as "The Media" and that's considered singular).
furrykef   Tue Oct 09, 2007 1:59 am GMT
"People" can only be singular when referring to the population of a place. For example, "The Romans were an industrious people." The word "peoples" only occurs in the same context: one might speak of the peoples of China and Korea. Both of these usages are relatively uncommon and a bit literary. "People" is often used in the plural even when referring to a population: "The people of the United States want to..." (not "wants to").

- Kef
Guest   Wed Oct 10, 2007 2:44 am GMT
May I ask, would you say:

USA is going to adopt.... (USA as in a country), or

USA are going to adopt.. (as people of that country).


Which one is correct for countries?

Also, I think "Police", for instance, is considered plural, as in "the Forces" or something... So, "The Police are going..." Isn't that right?
furrykef   Wed Oct 10, 2007 3:16 am GMT
I would say, "The USA is going to adopt..."

And yes, "police" is plural.

- Kef