Is "family" singular or plural?

[NurseJackie]

Is it more correct to say "My family is worried about the future" ... or is it better to say "My family are worried about the future"?

14 votes, 2 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	My family is worried about the future.
	14 (100%)
	My family are worried about the future.
	0 (0%)
	2 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[bluedye33139]

1. I alternate, depending on whether I'm with British people or not.

[Nay]

2. Use "is" here in the States, and "are" with British English. nt

[frazzled]

3. It's a "collective noun"

Use the singular. My family is.

[TreasonousBastard]

4. C'mon-- "family" is a singular noun and is itself a group, like "duet"...

or "team".

"Family is..."

"Families are..." for the plural form

"Family" is also used as an adjective, but then is subject to the modified noun's characteristics.

And, just for the hell of it, there's always "The members of the family are..."

[guillaumeb]

5. It is a singular noun.

Families is the plural form.

[wcast]

6. Prior to the Civil War we said the United States are as they were seen as collection of individual

States. We now say The United States is as we see it now as a collective group.

[ProfessorGAC]

7. Nice Catch!

And correct. Heard in a history documentary that change in perspective about the collective, essentially added a capital to "the". Now it's THE United States, makes the United the operative word.
Thanks for the reminder. I had forgotten about that guy saying that until your post

[wcast]

9. Thanks for the reply.

And the info about capitalizing The in The United States 👍. I’ve edited my response. I can’t remember when I read about this but it has always stuck in my head.

Cheers

[3catwoman3]

8. The American-British difference seems pretty likely.

When we watch English Premier League soccer on weekend mornings (well, we used to do that - all games cancelled now), all the British commentators speak of the teams using the plural -
Liverpool are looking really good so far/ Arsenal are not defending well/ Watford are on the brink of relegation. Etc, etc.

Most of the American commentators have begun doing the same thing.

[tblue37]

10. General rule in U.S. English: If a group is acting as one, use singular. If individuals in

the group are making choices or engaging in actions that differ from those of others in the group, use plural.

As I understand it, though, British English usually employs plural verbs for group nouns.

[Piasladic]

11. it's a collective noun

Even though many people make up a family, it's still just one family. https://www.dictionary.com/e/collective-nouns/

[NurseJackie]

12. Thank you all for your feedback and comments.

Yes... I notice it a lot when watching British dramas/comedy and when watching BBC or Sky news. For example:

"The angry crowd are chanting loudly" vs "The angry crowd is chanting loudly".

Or...

"Apple are closing its stores" vs "Apple is closing its stores".

[cwydro]

13. "We are family"

Talking bout my sisters and me!

Pointer sisters, wasn’t it?

[Totally Tunsie]

15. Sister Sledge for the win!

[cwydro]

16. Yes!

Thank you!

Love that song! Gay anthem of the ages! That would always get us on the floor.

[muriel_volestrangler]

14. British English uses 'is' more than 'are', but not quite as much as American English

Last edited Wed Mar 18, 2020, 08:53 PM - Edit history (2)

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=family+is%2Cfamily+are&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=17&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cfamily%20is%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cfamily%20are%3B%2Cc0#t1%3B%2Cfamily%20is%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cfamily%20are%3B%2Cc0

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=family+is%2Cfamily+are&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=18&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cfamily%20is%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cfamily%20are%3B%2Cc0

On edit: By prefacing with a "My" or "Your" (including a capital letter) we can get a better idea (to exclude things like "each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way" ). "My/Your family is" is far more common, these days, in American English, but it used to be far closer, until about 1970:

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=My+family+is%2CMy+family+are&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=17&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2CMy%20family%20is%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CMy%20family%20are%3B%2Cc0#t1%3B%2CMy%20family%20is%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CMy%20family%20are%3B%2Cc0

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Your+family+is%2CYour+family+are&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=17&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2CYour%20family%20is%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CYour%20family%20are%3B%2Cc0

An increase in 'is' can also be seen in British English, but nothing like as much:

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=My+family+is%2CMy+family+are&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=18&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2CMy%20family%20is%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CMy%20family%20are%3B%2Cc0

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Your+family+is%2CYour+family+are&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=18&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2CYour%20family%20is%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CYour%20family%20are%3B%2Cc0