Why does word think staff can be pluralised to staffs?
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From: Simon-L on 3 Mar 2010 19:56 Whenever I'm typing up a document and put in a statement like: Staff are always encouraged to do the right thing. Why is it that Word always wants me to change it to one of two things: 1. Staffs are always encouraged to do the right thing, or; 2. Staff is always encouraged to do the right thing. Both suggested sentences are wrong and my original sentence is correct. I've noticed this (and similar) problems with the grammar checker for a long time, has no-one pointed this out before or is it a really tricky rule to program?
From: pbkry2r on 3 Mar 2010 20:34 Technically, "staff" is a singular noun, if we're talking American English. The suggested Word spell-check changes are correct. "Staff" is a group, which is a singular thing, even though it's composed of many people. However, singulars that should be plurals are very often misused, and that misuse has become standard English in casual use. All the newspapers I've worked for, and the publishing house where I now work, use it as a singular noun. So I'd write "staff is" or "staff members are." British and other English uses may differ. If you're writing for an organization that prefers "staff are," then use that. "Simon-L" wrote: > Whenever I'm typing up a document and put in a statement like: > Staff are always encouraged to do the right thing. > > Why is it that Word always wants me to change it to one of two things: > 1. Staffs are always encouraged to do the right thing, or; > 2. Staff is always encouraged to do the right thing. > > Both suggested sentences are wrong and my original sentence is correct. > I've noticed this (and similar) problems with the grammar checker for a long > time, has no-one pointed this out before or is it a really tricky rule to > program?
From: Suzanne S. Barnhill on 3 Mar 2010 21:36 In addition, a staff doesn't have to be people. It can be a walking staff or a musical staff (though I think the plural of that is "staves"). -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA http://word.mvps.org "pbkry2r" <pbkry2r(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:B364CD34-0F36-4CC3-85B6-2E6094517093(a)microsoft.com... > Technically, "staff" is a singular noun, if we're talking American > English. > The suggested Word spell-check changes are correct. "Staff" is a group, > which > is a singular thing, even though it's composed of many people. However, > singulars that should be plurals are very often misused, and that misuse > has > become standard English in casual use. All the newspapers I've worked for, > and the publishing house where I now work, use it as a singular noun. So > I'd > write "staff is" or "staff members are." British and other English uses > may > differ. If you're writing for an organization that prefers "staff are," > then > use that. > > "Simon-L" wrote: > >> Whenever I'm typing up a document and put in a statement like: >> Staff are always encouraged to do the right thing. >> >> Why is it that Word always wants me to change it to one of two things: >> 1. Staffs are always encouraged to do the right thing, or; >> 2. Staff is always encouraged to do the right thing. >> >> Both suggested sentences are wrong and my original sentence is correct. >> I've noticed this (and similar) problems with the grammar checker for a >> long >> time, has no-one pointed this out before or is it a really tricky rule to >> program? >
From: Simon-L on 3 Mar 2010 21:56 So it's like sheep? Sheep is or Sheep are, it's singular and plural. I'm in Australia, so the suggested changes are wrong (and yes, I do have dictionary set to Aus). Do you know if MS pay any attention to these forums or is there a way to get in touch with the Spelling & Grammar people to get this fixed up for all English speaking countries other than US & Canada? "pbkry2r" wrote: > Technically, "staff" is a singular noun, if we're talking American English. > The suggested Word spell-check changes are correct. "Staff" is a group, which > is a singular thing, even though it's composed of many people. However, > singulars that should be plurals are very often misused, and that misuse has > become standard English in casual use. All the newspapers I've worked for, > and the publishing house where I now work, use it as a singular noun. So I'd > write "staff is" or "staff members are." British and other English uses may > differ. If you're writing for an organization that prefers "staff are," then > use that.
From: Peter T. Daniels on 4 Mar 2010 00:50
In the US we say "_The_ staff is ...." On Mar 3, 9:56 pm, Simon-L <Sim...(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote: > So it's like sheep? > Sheep is or Sheep are, it's singular and plural. > > I'm in Australia, so the suggested changes are wrong (and yes, I do have > dictionary set to Aus). > > Do you know if MS pay any attention to these forums or is there a way to get > in touch with the Spelling & Grammar people to get this fixed up for all > English speaking countries other than US & Canada? > > > > "pbkry2r" wrote: > > Technically, "staff" is a singular noun, if we're talking American English. > > The suggested Word spell-check changes are correct. "Staff" is a group, which > > is a singular thing, even though it's composed of many people. However, > > singulars that should be plurals are very often misused, and that misuse has > > become standard English in casual use. All the newspapers I've worked for, > > and the publishing house where I now work, use it as a singular noun. So I'd > > write "staff is" or "staff members are." British and other English uses may > > differ. If you're writing for an organization that prefers "staff are," then > > use that.- |