blind-fitter Posted June 29, 2007 Report Posted June 29, 2007 I do! Your trouble is you've watched too much American TV. A trivial debate over semantics; that's me fired up for the afternoon... By teatime, I'll no doubt be a simmering mass of highly-charged erotic tension. Mrs Fitter, LOOK OUT!
The Seeker Posted June 29, 2007 Report Posted June 29, 2007 What about something like The Who, then? (no, I really couldn't think of something else ) That's neither plural nor singular.
blind-fitter Posted June 29, 2007 Report Posted June 29, 2007 (edited) Like it, Seeker, like it. "Originally, The Who was Mods", or "Originally, The Who were Mods"? Edited June 29, 2007 by Guest add word
Levis Posted June 29, 2007 Report Posted June 29, 2007 I do! You do NOT! YOU are the one who said "A group, by definition, is.... " Hah! And The Who were mods, because you always use the word 'who' with the plural form of the verb.
The Seeker Posted June 29, 2007 Report Posted June 29, 2007 And The Who were mods, because you always use the word 'who' with the plural form of the verb. Explain
Levis Posted June 29, 2007 Report Posted June 29, 2007 Hmm, wait... let me see... No... I take it back. Because I wouldn't even say "The Who were mods". Because 'mods' is what's pluralising the whole thing, not 'The Who'. The Who is a band. There. Singular it is.
The Seeker Posted June 29, 2007 Report Posted June 29, 2007 But it's a lot easier to say The Who are mods.
Levis Posted June 29, 2007 Report Posted June 29, 2007 That's because the verb is agreeing with the object, not the subject. 'The Who' is singular and 'mods' is plural
The Seeker Posted June 29, 2007 Report Posted June 29, 2007 What's wrong with 'The Who were mods' then? In this case, we're talking about the individual members, so The Who is plural---as opposed to 'The Who is mod'. That sentence's got a different meaning.
The Seeker Posted June 29, 2007 Report Posted June 29, 2007 And I'd say The Who are mod all the same.
Levis Posted June 29, 2007 Report Posted June 29, 2007 Translate it to French. It would be Le Who (Le Qui?) and not Les Who. But it would be Les Beatles. There's your singular-plural differentiation
The Seeker Posted June 29, 2007 Report Posted June 29, 2007 Translate it to German. It would be Die Who. All bands are plural there. (back me up if I'm right, Martin )
The Seeker Posted June 29, 2007 Report Posted June 29, 2007 Wikipedia: The Who (en français "les Qui")
blind-fitter Posted June 29, 2007 Report Posted June 29, 2007 "Sonic Youth were great, weren't they?" "Sonic Youth was great, wasn't it?" Now...which sounds right to you? Honestly? (Notwithstanding your actual opinion of SY, of course)
Farin Posted June 29, 2007 Report Posted June 29, 2007 I would like to back you up, if I'd actually knew it... "The Who" just like any other band name, is a proper name, and isn't translated at all... so we would neither say "Die Who" nor "Die Wer" or anything else... I just read the German Wikipedia article about them and there it's always "The Who ist (Singular) eine der bedeutendsten englischen Rockbands der 1960er- und 1970er-Jahre."
The Seeker Posted June 29, 2007 Report Posted June 29, 2007 Okay... I've just read a few posts on some German forums and such, and they all talked about Die Who. (not The) Thanks though
The Seeker Posted June 29, 2007 Report Posted June 29, 2007 And plural, too... Die Who sind something something
The Seeker Posted June 29, 2007 Report Posted June 29, 2007 "Sonic Youth were great, weren't they?" "Sonic Youth was great, wasn't it?" Now...which sounds right to you? Honestly? (Notwithstanding your actual opinion of SY, of course) I'd still say are.
Farin Posted June 29, 2007 Report Posted June 29, 2007 Okay... I've just read a few posts on some German forums and such, and they all talked about Die Who. (not The) Thanks though really? can you give me a link, I never would have thought of talking about "die Who"...
Levis Posted June 29, 2007 Report Posted June 29, 2007 (edited) "Sonic Youth were great, weren't they?" "Sonic Youth was great, wasn't it?" Now...which sounds right to you? Honestly? (Notwithstanding your actual opinion of SY, of course) Sonic Youth rock! That seems about right... youth must be plural Edited June 29, 2007 by Guest explained meself a bit
The Seeker Posted June 29, 2007 Report Posted June 29, 2007 Especially this site. That article is just an example. They use both there--The and Die.
The Seeker Posted June 29, 2007 Report Posted June 29, 2007 And newspaper articles too: this one ("Die Who sind geblieben") and this interview ("Also sind die Who eher ein Zufallsprodukt?")
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