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Not happy with "The staff are happy" OR "The staff is happy"



 
 
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  #1  
Old June 13th, 2007, 09:23 AM posted to microsoft.public.word.newusers,microsoft.public.word.spelling.grammar
Bill Davy
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 36
Default Not happy with "The staff are happy" OR "The staff is happy"

In fact, the grammar checker seems to have green twiddlyitis with the
following:



The staff are happy. "staff are" have twiddles (suggests "staff is" but see
below)

Staff are happy. "staff are" have twiddles (suggests "Staff is" or "Staffs
are"

Staff is happy. "Staff" has twiddles (suggests "staffs").

The staff is happy. "Staff" has twiddles (suggests "staffs" but see above).

A staff is happy. "A staff" has twiddles (suggests "Staffs")



Is it fixable? How?



Word 2003 SP2.




  #2  
Old June 13th, 2007, 10:38 AM posted to microsoft.public.word.newusers,microsoft.public.word.spelling.grammar
Terry Farrell
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,004
Default Not happy with "The staff are happy" OR "The staff is happy"

Bill

Not fixable. It is still present in W2007 too.

Staff (and crowd) are collective nouns, so 'the staff is' and 'the crowd is'
are both correct. The grammar checker happily accepts 'is or are' with
crowd - but with staff, the checker accepts neither as correct.

Both the handling of crowd and staff are inconsistent and daft.

--
Terry Farrell - MS Word MVP

"Bill Davy" wrote in message
...
In fact, the grammar checker seems to have green twiddlyitis with the
following:



The staff are happy. "staff are" have twiddles (suggests "staff is" but
see below)

Staff are happy. "staff are" have twiddles (suggests "Staff is" or
"Staffs are"

Staff is happy. "Staff" has twiddles (suggests "staffs").

The staff is happy. "Staff" has twiddles (suggests "staffs" but see
above).

A staff is happy. "A staff" has twiddles (suggests "Staffs")



Is it fixable? How?



Word 2003 SP2.





  #3  
Old June 13th, 2007, 11:18 AM posted to microsoft.public.word.newusers,microsoft.public.word.spelling.grammar
Stefan Blom
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 8,433
Default Not happy with "The staff are happy" OR "The staff is happy"

Word 2000 seems to handle it correctly, though.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


"Terry Farrell" wrote in message
...
Bill

Not fixable. It is still present in W2007 too.

Staff (and crowd) are collective nouns, so 'the staff is' and 'the

crowd is'
are both correct. The grammar checker happily accepts 'is or are' with
crowd - but with staff, the checker accepts neither as correct.

Both the handling of crowd and staff are inconsistent and daft.

--
Terry Farrell - MS Word MVP

"Bill Davy" wrote in message
...
In fact, the grammar checker seems to have green twiddlyitis with

the
following:



The staff are happy. "staff are" have twiddles (suggests "staff is"

but
see below)

Staff are happy. "staff are" have twiddles (suggests "Staff is" or
"Staffs are"

Staff is happy. "Staff" has twiddles (suggests "staffs").

The staff is happy. "Staff" has twiddles (suggests "staffs" but see
above).

A staff is happy. "A staff" has twiddles (suggests "Staffs")



Is it fixable? How?



Word 2003 SP2.








  #4  
Old June 13th, 2007, 11:47 AM posted to microsoft.public.word.newusers,microsoft.public.word.spelling.grammar
Bill Davy
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 36
Default Not happy with "The staff are happy" OR "The staff is happy"

That's progress for you, then :-(
Bill

"Stefan Blom" wrote in message
...
Word 2000 seems to handle it correctly, though.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


"Terry Farrell" wrote in message
...
Bill

Not fixable. It is still present in W2007 too.

Staff (and crowd) are collective nouns, so 'the staff is' and 'the

crowd is'
are both correct. The grammar checker happily accepts 'is or are' with
crowd - but with staff, the checker accepts neither as correct.

Both the handling of crowd and staff are inconsistent and daft.

--
Terry Farrell - MS Word MVP

"Bill Davy" wrote in message
...
In fact, the grammar checker seems to have green twiddlyitis with

the
following:



The staff are happy. "staff are" have twiddles (suggests "staff is"

but
see below)

Staff are happy. "staff are" have twiddles (suggests "Staff is" or
"Staffs are"

Staff is happy. "Staff" has twiddles (suggests "staffs").

The staff is happy. "Staff" has twiddles (suggests "staffs" but see
above).

A staff is happy. "A staff" has twiddles (suggests "Staffs")



Is it fixable? How?



Word 2003 SP2.










  #5  
Old June 13th, 2007, 11:48 AM posted to microsoft.public.word.newusers,microsoft.public.word.spelling.grammar
Bill Davy
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 36
Default Not happy with "The staff are happy" OR "The staff is happy"

OK, I'll log it to MS. Hey ho.

"Terry Farrell" wrote in message
...
Bill

Not fixable. It is still present in W2007 too.

Staff (and crowd) are collective nouns, so 'the staff is' and 'the crowd
is' are both correct. The grammar checker happily accepts 'is or are' with
crowd - but with staff, the checker accepts neither as correct.

Both the handling of crowd and staff are inconsistent and daft.

--
Terry Farrell - MS Word MVP

"Bill Davy" wrote in message
...
In fact, the grammar checker seems to have green twiddlyitis with the
following:



The staff are happy. "staff are" have twiddles (suggests "staff is" but
see below)

Staff are happy. "staff are" have twiddles (suggests "Staff is" or
"Staffs are"

Staff is happy. "Staff" has twiddles (suggests "staffs").

The staff is happy. "Staff" has twiddles (suggests "staffs" but see
above).

A staff is happy. "A staff" has twiddles (suggests "Staffs")



Is it fixable? How?



Word 2003 SP2.







  #6  
Old June 13th, 2007, 12:31 PM posted to microsoft.public.word.newusers,microsoft.public.word.spelling.grammar
Robert
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 122
Default Not happy with "The staff are happy" OR "The staff is happy"

Hi,

According to my sources, "staff" behaves differently in US and UK English.

In US English, when "staff" is the subject of a verb, it is normally
followed by singular verbs only. But plural pronouns can be used:

The staff is currently on vacation. They will be back next Monday.

In UK English, "staff" is normally followed by plural verbs:

The staff in this company are very young.

In US English, "staff" can only be singular:

They have a staff of a hundred working night shifts (but not "A hundred
staff").

In UK English, "staff" can be both singular and plural:

They have a staff of a hundred working night shifts.

but also

They have a hundred staff working night shifts.

In both US and UK English, "staff" can be used in the plural to refer to
more than one such group:

The senators and their staffs.

Obviously, the Word 2007 grammar checker knows nothing about all this.

Hope this helps.

Robert

-----------------------------------------------------------

On Wed, 13 Jun 2007 10:38:49 +0100, Terry Farrell wrote:

Bill

Not fixable. It is still present in W2007 too.

Staff (and crowd) are collective nouns, so 'the staff is' and 'the crowd is'
are both correct. The grammar checker happily accepts 'is or are' with
crowd - but with staff, the checker accepts neither as correct.

Both the handling of crowd and staff are inconsistent and daft.

  #7  
Old June 13th, 2007, 02:31 PM posted to microsoft.public.word.newusers,microsoft.public.word.spelling.grammar
Suzanne S. Barnhill
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 31,786
Default Not happy with "The staff are happy" OR "The staff is happy"

How does UK English handle the use of "staff" to mean a walking stick or a
musical staff, either of which is decidedly singular?

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Robert" wrote in message
...
Hi,

According to my sources, "staff" behaves differently in US and UK English.

In US English, when "staff" is the subject of a verb, it is normally
followed by singular verbs only. But plural pronouns can be used:

The staff is currently on vacation. They will be back next Monday.

In UK English, "staff" is normally followed by plural verbs:

The staff in this company are very young.

In US English, "staff" can only be singular:

They have a staff of a hundred working night shifts (but not "A hundred
staff").

In UK English, "staff" can be both singular and plural:

They have a staff of a hundred working night shifts.

but also

They have a hundred staff working night shifts.

In both US and UK English, "staff" can be used in the plural to refer to
more than one such group:

The senators and their staffs.

Obviously, the Word 2007 grammar checker knows nothing about all this.

Hope this helps.

Robert

-----------------------------------------------------------

On Wed, 13 Jun 2007 10:38:49 +0100, Terry Farrell wrote:

Bill

Not fixable. It is still present in W2007 too.

Staff (and crowd) are collective nouns, so 'the staff is' and 'the crowd

is'
are both correct. The grammar checker happily accepts 'is or are' with
crowd - but with staff, the checker accepts neither as correct.

Both the handling of crowd and staff are inconsistent and daft.


  #8  
Old June 13th, 2007, 02:48 PM posted to microsoft.public.word.newusers,microsoft.public.word.spelling.grammar
PeterMcC
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 51
Default Not happy with "The staff are happy" OR "The staff is happy"

Suzanne S. Barnhill wrote in


How does UK English handle the use of "staff" to mean a walking stick
or a musical staff, either of which is decidedly singular?

snip

Staffs or staves.

Incidentally, staves are also the strips of wood that are used as the walls
of barrels - or they are in the UK anyway - and there is a singular,
"stave".

--
PeterMcC
If you feel that any of the above is incorrect,
inappropriate or offensive in any way,
please ignore it and accept my apologies.

  #9  
Old June 13th, 2007, 03:33 PM posted to microsoft.public.word.newusers,microsoft.public.word.spelling.grammar
Terry Farrell
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,004
Default Not happy with "The staff are happy" OR "The staff is happy"

It becomes clearer why the Grammar checker finds it difficult to be correct.
I normally use it even though it has many false positives, because it does
catch true positives on occasions.

Terry Farrell

"PeterMcC" wrote in message
...
Suzanne S. Barnhill wrote in


How does UK English handle the use of "staff" to mean a walking stick
or a musical staff, either of which is decidedly singular?

snip

Staffs or staves.

Incidentally, staves are also the strips of wood that are used as the
walls
of barrels - or they are in the UK anyway - and there is a singular,
"stave".

--
PeterMcC
If you feel that any of the above is incorrect,
inappropriate or offensive in any way,
please ignore it and accept my apologies.


  #10  
Old June 13th, 2007, 04:05 PM posted to microsoft.public.word.newusers,microsoft.public.word.spelling.grammar
Suzanne S. Barnhill
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 31,786
Default Not happy with "The staff are happy" OR "The staff is happy"

I wasn't asking about the plural but about whether the grammar checker
allows singular verbs.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"PeterMcC" wrote in message
...
Suzanne S. Barnhill wrote in


How does UK English handle the use of "staff" to mean a walking stick
or a musical staff, either of which is decidedly singular?

snip

Staffs or staves.

Incidentally, staves are also the strips of wood that are used as the

walls
of barrels - or they are in the UK anyway - and there is a singular,
"stave".

--
PeterMcC
If you feel that any of the above is incorrect,
inappropriate or offensive in any way,
please ignore it and accept my apologies.


 




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