# Give me your opinion on this grammer question **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 23, 2018, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-your-opinion-on-this-grammer-question/818471 "2018-07-23T20:04:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Patx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-your-opinion-on-this-grammer-question/818471/21 "2018-07-24T14:31:39Z")
> [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](#): > > Faculty and staff are singular. Both refer to a a single group of people. I think they would be considered collective nouns which makes them plural. That said, I think “do” sounds awkward even though it’s probably grammatically correct. I would take the advice of a previous poster and just not use it at all. ---
**Author:** ![Patx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-your-opinion-on-this-grammer-question/818471/22 "2018-07-24T14:33:52Z")
I am correcting myself, a collective noun is not necessarily plural. 😊 ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-your-opinion-on-this-grammer-question/818471/23 "2018-07-24T14:41:20Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > One or the other is “more standard” in different parts of the world, though. I think that’s true, but more operational here is the larger context of the discourse. If one looks and actually takes the time to examine the data I provided (there’s more of the same nature–that was just the beginning), one will see that these are all national publications or news sources in the U.S. As **begbert2** says above, > [@begbert2](#): > > the terms “faculty” and “staff” can operate as either singular or plural, with an accompanying change in meaning depending on how you use them! It’s not about the region. It’s how the term is being used in the larger extended discourse. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-your-opinion-on-this-grammer-question/818471/24 "2018-07-24T14:53:32Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > In the case of something like “The faculty have excellent pension plans,” you would absolutely treat it as plural. I disagree, and I wouldn’t even use the plural of pension plan. I would say, “The faculty has an excellent pension plan.” There is typically only one plan that would cover a whole group of people. The way you write it, it sounds like there’s one for each member of the faculty. To the OP: Do, or remove it and use “recognize”. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-your-opinion-on-this-grammer-question/818471/25 "2018-07-24T15:23:41Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > I disagree, and I wouldn’t even use the plural of pension plan. I would say, “The faculty has an excellent pension plan.” There is typically only one plan that would cover a whole group of people. The way you write it, it sounds like there’s one for each member of the faculty. > > To the OP: Do, or remove it and use “recognize”. Your way makes it sound like they have one pension plan and they are sharing it. Each of the faculty has their own pension plan–they aren’t sharing one. Each member of the group is individually having one, so it calls for a plural. What about: “The faculty have different pension plans depending on when they started”? ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-your-opinion-on-this-grammer-question/818471/26 "2018-07-24T18:08:41Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > Your way makes it sound like they have one pension plan and they are sharing it. Each of the faculty has their own pension plan–they aren’t sharing one. Each member of the group is individually having one, so it calls for a plural. What about: > > “The faculty have different pension plans depending on when they started”? We’re getting pretty far from the OP’s question, but actually, most pension plans are a single plan and employees get paid out of it based on their years of service, retirement age, whether they cover a spouse, and probably other things. If someone retires and collects for one day and drops dead (assuming they didn’t pick some guaranteed number of payments which would reduce his/her payment), their heirs can’t hit up the plan for more money. If you mean something like a 401k or 403b (available to some public teachers), then, yes, they have their own account. In that case, I would say: “Each faculty member has his or her own retirement account…” I don’t agree that “faculty” would mostly take a plural verb form in the US. I think it would be mostly singular, although as with any language question, there are doubtless tons of exceptions. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2018, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-your-opinion-on-this-grammer-question/818471/27 "2018-07-24T18:21:35Z")
NM, too late on the draw. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/give-me-your-opinion-on-this-grammer-question/818471.md?page=1)